First of the Abyss Foster Home for story-ideas
by FirstoftheAbyss
Summary: previews of potential stories I one day may or may not decide to write and One-shots. (formerly known as previews)
1. Chapter 1

**First things first I haven't abandoned any of my other stories, however I am at least as disappointed in myself as you people most likely are, for failing to update Daughter of Juno and to a lesser amount Bound By Blood (I hadn't promised to update that fast, so I haven't failed another promise). All I can say in my defence is August was a lot less relaxed than I imagined I would be. Sincerely: a heavy case of writer's block, a job, getting my hand hurt, ... Sigh, but I am trying to solve most of my problems at the moment.**

 **This little bit of story is so to say a reward for everyone who loved Daughter of Juno (and my way of apologising for being horribly late with the main story). I had originally several ideas about what story I would write and this was my second favourite variant of a Percy Jackson-story.**

 **instead of diverging from the Canon story, this one would be set after that. Here Penthesilea (fem-Percy) would get banished to Tartarus for the customary charges of becoming to powerful, criticism upon the Gods, being rebellious, insulting... . To bad that most of the other (Greek) demigods don't nod and go along with that idea (unfortunately most of those eventually end up dead and swimming down the lethe or thrown in Tartarus as well).**

 **It involves several ideas which I haven't really seen on fanfiction (I don't say they aren't there, just that I haven't read them). Tartarus as a constant warzone/ hunting ground with shifting alliances between the grand monsters, Fallen Gods, titans, giants and damned humans. A large part of the fic would involve Penthesilea carving out her/ Iapetus's kingdom in Tartarus and gathering allies+ settling some scores. There would be plenty of attention to the different inhabitants and their backstories and what drove or still drives them. There would be no grand new enemy rising, instant imagine a renewed alliance of gods, titans and giants rising to break the gates of Dead open (again) and the Olympian Gods are eventually forced to realise that they can't ignore the problem and that they are once more forced to intervene. so they send an army of cyclopes, satyrs, centaurs, ... down which is supposed to defend the gate, but this force fails to hold them. In the end Artemis (one of the few capable Olympians) and her hunters is sent down in an attempt to gather some reliable intelligence about the alliance. She partially succeeds in this but more importantly for the Olympians she discovers that Penthesilea is not bound to some torture-instrument, but instead is leading a substantial force in a kingdom nearly next to the gate.**

 **The final pairing would either be Penthesilea-Aphrodite or Penthesilea-Khione, but she would have a small harem of friends with benefits, one of them (she is no OC by the way) is introduced in this part.**

 **For those who wonder, I had also several idees for a male Percy as well, but I simply liked those less than the female approach**

 **At the moment I have no plans to finish it, but if someone is interested, please PM me. (I am really looking forward to reading it)**

* * *

The girl kept herself pressed against the wall of the tunnel, trying to ignore the sharp edges from the crevices and the shards of glass and rock in the wall which seemed to cut into the unprotected flesh of her nearly bare back. In an attempt to suppress the sound of her breathing, she pushed her own hand against her mouth.

The sound of approaching boots grew louder and she edged deeper into the tunnel, slumping deeper into protection of it's shadows.

For a few more moments she heard the sound of the heavy footsteps growing louder, then the boots stopped. In a matter of moments she expected to see the ugly face of one of the cannibals and she instinctively reached for the hidden weapon into the pocket of her pants, but almost miraculously she heard a loud bang as if one of the rocks had tumbled down and the monsters roared before running into the direction of the sound.

A loud sigh of relief escaped her when she sank down against the wall and she immediately pushed both her hands over her mouth whilst eying the entrance of the small tunnel warily, waiting for an ambush to spring. But if one of the monsters had stayed behind, it failed to react.

The girl waited for another minute, then she drew the ivory dagger she had strapped to her back.

With a feeling as if her heart was violently trying to escape her chest, she edged closer to the entrance of the cave.

A quick glance revealed to her that there was nothing alive in sight and she left the limited safety of the small tunnel.

The landscape outside of the cave was little more than a labyrinth of tunnels, caves, rocks and crevices which kept anyone from seeing for more than thirty feet. Those rocks were darkish red and black further adding the desolation of the ruining landscape. The ground itself was splattered with sharp rocks and bits of obsidian, forcing her to keep her eyes upon the ground whenever she walked. When she looked up, there was a low ceiling of similar rocks which was riddled with tears and bulges. There was only a little light, which made it seem as if it was permanent midnight, this allowed her human eyes a poor visibility. Even the foul air of the caves was warm and poisonous, capable of killing a human in a matter of days.

This was Tartarus, the very definition of hell, and the place the girl had been judged to spend the coming eternity in.

Still, even in Hell people could find a reason to live for and truthfully that reason was all what kept Penthesilea going for the moment.

* * *

It took her the better part of an hour to complete her journey, but despite that and the numerous monsters en route, she succeeded nonetheless.

Once she was certain no monsters were near her, the girl slipped into one of the larger crevices of the wall. Crawling on her hands and knees like an animal, Penthesilea was swearing non-stop since even a short distance laid the exposed skin open. She gave a sigh of relief when she noticed the light from the fire on the other side.

For a moment she paused again and reached for the dagger upon her back, a short pull and the gleaming white of the ivory escaped the worn leather from her backpack. Clutching the rough leather she had wrapped around the hilt of the weapon, Penthesilea pointed the tip of her weapon at the source of the light. With the crevice growing lower for the last time, Penthesilea was forced to crawl through the dust upon her belly. These last eight feet tore another three red scratches through the bronzed skin of her back and arms, but she had made it, again. She crawled further, now back upon hands and knees, then the ceiling gained another feet in height and she started crouching, taking one small step forward after another, her green eyes narrowed and she paused for a moment, trying to recognise the sounds. Detecting nothing out of the ordinary, she went towards the narrow gap which would allow her to exit the tunnel.

The girl took a deep breath and slipped through the slit, dagger in hand.

Despite her caution though, nothing happened and she gave a sigh of relief.

Unlike the claustrophobic gaps, holes and tunnels before, the cave which she had entered was rather large, almost like an ancient manor and with nearly as many chambers. Most of them were small, barely bigger than a closet, others were larger like an apartment or a room and three of them were huge, as in the seize of a ballroom.

Unlike the outside of "her mansion", like she had dubbed the place, there were several fires present, burning brightly despite the lack of visible fuel. Moving on, Penthesilea went on towards one the main hall, to her lodgers, curious to find out about the absence of her welcoming comity.

* * *

"No ambush?" Penthesilea asked with a tired but seemingly amused voice.

In front of her there was a flurry of movement around the four massive fires which had been lit in the hall. Each of the forty humanoid figures who had been sitting, laying or had stood up roasting an inhuman looking monster above the flames, turned her head or even her entire body towards her. Several of the humanoid figures exposed their fangs or revealed weapons in an unspoken challenge.

However despite the spirit of their motions, none of them actually dared to take the risk.

At the corner of the group, one of the demi-humans finally stood up and began limping towards her. Unlike the others, Serephone had been seated upon a small stone throne covered with furs and skins from monsters for comfort. What little that was visible of the dark stones out of which the seat had been build, had been carefully smoothed until there was no trace of splinters or edges. Two small flames had been burning above the corners of the back of the throne and these two fires began to fade away as soon as she stood up. Behind her own throne, there stood two more thrones. One only slightly bigger than hers and with plenty of curves edged in the stone as well as a number of pelts. The other was much larger, easily capable of seating five men and whilst already smoothed, there were no pelts covering the dark stone.

The occupant of the first throne was about her height, she had a pale skin which seemed to resemble ivory and which lacked the unhealthy shine which a human would have sported, but even so it still suffered from numerous scratches and blotches caused by the environment. Her eyes were red like freshly spilled blood and despite the glint of entertainment which was usually present, they were also hard and cold with a hint of madness. Her hair was long and contained several shades of blond with occasionally a hint of red. Despite the lack of wind, her hair was still moving as if it was caught in a breeze, reminding the demi-goddess in front of her of the flame of a candle. Serephone's figure was lithe but not notably slim, giving her a healthy appearance which contained plenty of curves and softness, but which was not entirely bereft of agility and strength. Unlike Penthesilea whose clothing had been mostly practical, Serephone wore nothing more than a thin, formerly bright white coloured sundress and beige coloured jacket. Her feet were bare and so were her legs, neither of them showing so much as a single blemish from their stay in Tartarus, if it weren't for the slight discolouration of the limbs they would have been the envy of every cheerleader. And that was just what she was, a poor young girl enjoying spring break until some kind of horrible monster had dragged her down into this figment of hell.

Penthesilea snorted at that last thought. The figure she saw might be as close to Serephone's real shape, as she ever would be voluntary showing. Penthesilea had learned some time ago that Empousai became rather sensitive when it involved their lower limbs.

Empousai rather liked to appear human and Serephone was no exception, so if ignoring the little illusions which she had cast upon her legs and hair made her happy, Penthesilea saw no reason not to humour her.

"No ambush?" Penthesilea repeated.

Serephone nodded in reply. "I'm surprised they kept trying for so long." She said.

"Guess they're starting to like me, hm." She said teasingly, ignoring the expressions of anger and horror upon most of the other empousai's faces.

Serephone narrowed her eyes for a moment, before moving her eyes across Penthesilea's body obviously inspecting and judging her. Penthesilea instinctively felt a shiver crawl up her spine, making the empousa smile.

"I can see why." She admitted. "A lean body with subtle muscles, round hips and a toned waist. High cheekbones, a nice even tan and brilliant sea green eyes."

Serephone gained a small mischievous smile. "Rather perky assets, but I wonder how much bigger they are then they seem to be."

At this point, Penthesilea showed a hint of blush. Serephone smirk grew wider in return and therefore encouraged she placed the palm of her hand upon the girl's exposed lower belly and began slowly to move upwards. "And considering you're Poseidon's daughter, I wonder if you ever suffered tan lines."

A quick step backwards ended Serephone's little game.

"And those legs." Serephone whispered, still spotting the same grin. "Those legs." She added wistfully and not without a hint of jealously.

Penthesilea stared for a moment into Serephone's eyes. Then she gave another snort and reached into her backpack.

"Can you use those?" She asked whilst offering her two large wineskins. Taking the offered bags, Serephone seemed to weigh it for a moment, at the same time enjoying the warmth of the liquid fire in her hand.

"Gorgo and Stephaney were burned by Cacus last night and Vicky nearly lost a leg to the manticore." Serephone replied.

"Did old man Thorn escape after that?"

Serephone gave her a cruel smile. "We invited him for dinner." She said whilst pointing at the slowly turning object above the flames of the farthest fire.

Another shiver crawled up Penthesilea's spine.

The next smile which Serephone shot was much kinder. "We'll sacrifice his tail tonight." She said.

Penthesilea nodded in reply, offering her a small smile, almost like an afterthought.

Serephone stared at the wineskins for a moment.

"Sometimes I wonder what's crueller: forcing them to respawn or forcing them to drink this." She said seemingly to herself.

Penthesilea stared at the roast whilst distracted weighing her own, much smaller wineskin.

"I don't know." Penthesilea whispered whilst staring at the remains of Thorn. "It keeps respawning, the worst of wounds and dying by hunger or thirst away, but that's all it does."

Truthfully, Penthesilea hadn't eaten since she killed and roasted the Clazmonian Sow, which was nearly five months ago and she had been forced to eat a lot less then she had hoped for due to unexpected arrival of a small army of Laistrygonians and the last time before that was when she was still on the good side of the doors of Death. And drinking anything other than l'eau de Phlegethon had taken just as long.

She had to admit that if she'd come across the Minotaur, one of the fire-breathing horses or even a centaur, she'd be sorely tempted to kill and eat them. Or at least the non-human parts of the centaurs. On a related note, Serephone had offered her a cup of blood from a Laistrygonian a week ago and she had begun wondering if she hadn't been wrong to dismiss it.

She shook her head dismissing the thought and pointed at the tunnel to her own room.

* * *

Penthesilea paused for a moment allowing Serephone to limp closer and catch up with her.

"You know, I was actually worried when I failed to hear or notice anyone when I arrived." She said.

"They're more intelligent than trying to kill you, young as they might be, you should give them at least that much credit." Serephone told her, although she failed to make it seem like she actually cared.

"I feared the gate had fallen, Serephone." Penthesilea corrected her. "Not one of those silly cheerleaders trying to kill me."

Serephone giggled for a moment, then she regained control over herself.

"I feel insulted and even devastated by having the proud race of empousai being labelled as mere cheerleaders." She said with bland tone of voice. "Throughout my many returns to the other side I have played many parts, I've been a poet, student, nurse, teacher, secretary and librarian, among others and never did I had to lower myself into confirming to that kind of stereotype."

Whatever impression she had made, was lost when she giggled again and added. "Besides, the sexy librarian is my forte."

Penthesilea rolled her eyes in reply. "I'll make sure to take some books back with me when I get to leave this hell."

"Enthusiastic, aren't you?" Serephone said, spotting the same mischievous smile which Penthesilea had come to associate with private embarrassment and even more private dreams.

Serephone reached for demigoddess' hand. "I promise I'll be gentle."

She brushed her head against bare shoulder and made certain Penthesilea would feel the kiss upon her arm.

The demigoddess simply knew the empousa had fires around them expanding, there was no other reason for the heat upon her face ... other then the tiny possibility she was blushing up a storm.

The same heat seemed intensify when the empousa kept staring at her face, she noticed Serephone's smile expand until it exposed her fangs.

Penthesilea shook her head. "Can we please return to the original subject." She asked, whilst mentally adding, "and leave the uncomfortable, uncharted grounds."

Serephone gave her a playful pout before nodding after an obviously exaggerated sigh.

"What was that original subject?" Serephone asked her.

"Me being afraid the gate had fallen." Penthesilea reminded her.

The empousa seemed to perk up again.

"Worried about little, old me, hm?" she asked sweetly.

She sighed again. she already knew she was going to regret answering that question.

"Actually I was." She admitted. "You're better company than the other empousai."

"I am also older, wiser, more capable, more in control of our gifts." She said impishly before adding angrily. "As long as there is no backstabbing bitch to plant a dagger in my back."

Another eye roll, it was an action which Penthesilea had been doing quite frequently ever since she met with the empousai.

"You don't hate me." Penthesilea replied, a bit more bitterly then she actually had meant.

"Nope, but I am rather grateful for you killing Kelly, twice!"

Penthesilea shook her head. She knew she had better things to worry about, then whether or not she needed her Riptide to keep most of her underlings from killing her in her sleep or if her fists and dagger would suffice.

"How's the situation at the gate for the moment?" Penthesilea asked her.

"Easy enough for now." Serephone admitted. "We keep most of the entrance blocked off for now. They can't enter with more than three at the moment, less or even impossible for the bigger monsters."

"How is our supply of Stygian Ore?" Penthesilea asked in reply.

At this Serephone frowned. "Slinking slowly," she admitted. "A dozen of new spears and ten times that many arrows, and we'll be all out."

The Empousa reached in the quiver from her own backpack, this was a small, primitive looking combination of a pack, quiver and knife-scabbard made from some kind of leather (Penthesilea had learned a long time that when told, "you don't wanne known", most of the time she really didn't want to know), which clashed heavily with the rest of her outfit.

The arrow itself was a slim piece of bone, fletched with the feathers from some of the winged monsters. The tip from the arrows however were made from numerous materials, most usual were the pieces of obsidian which provided the arrows with an razor-sharp point, however there were other types of rock and even bone present as well.

Presenting Penthesilea with two arrows which were tipped with stygian iron, she sighed.

"My last." she admitted. "Some of the girls might have one or two left and there are another twelve kept in reserve, but after that..."

"Obsedian is sharp enough." Penthesilea admitted tiredly. "but it breaks upon armour."

"Unfortunately."

Both girls fell silent afterwards and like that they entered Penthesilea's room.

The chamber was little different from the rest of her "mansion". Just a rather large cave with several smaller hollows into the walls which she used as closet, table or in one case seat. One corner of the room was littered with a pile numerous pelts which served as both sheets and mattresses.

Three more pelts were hung against the walls, one covered her main-closet, whereas the remaining pelts covered the entrance of her room and the opening which gave access to the adjacent room.

Penthesilea ignored her own room for now and walked straight towards the connected room.

* * *

The next room was large, easily three times the size Penthesilea's and with a much higher ceiling. Unlike most rooms which had no real shape, this one was shaped like an almost perfect rectangle except for four small coves on either side which seemed almost constructed with their similar shape and the equal distance from each other. Furthermore there were six stalagmites and stalactites in front of the coves, each so tall that they were only inches away from the ceiling or floor. In truth it seemed more akin to a temple devoted to a dark god then a cave and considering her goal, that suited Penthesilea fine. Behind the demigoddess Serephone made a small motion with her hand, causing four small flames to light up behind the "pillars".

On the other side of the room, the reflection of the flame caused a small gleam to illuminate the rear wall.

Once she had crossed the distance from the room, Penthesilea smiled at the silver bubble.

"Hey uncle," she whispered affectionately whilst placing a hand upon the bubble, a few inches above his cheek.

"I am back again." she gave a weak smile. "And with a few more offerings for you."

"I came across them when gathering some more water from the Phlegethon. I'd tell you about obtaining them, but it makes a rather poor story so I won't be bothering and risk disturbing your dreams with it."

She gave another sigh. "Serephone and her girls chased off some more idiots trying to get in whilst I was off." She shot him a sadistic smile, before giving the same to the empousa, who simply nodded gratefully. "I think you already noticed their offerings."

"I've tried to find out what happened with Clymene, however I've found no trace or even a single rumour of her. Damasen is still missing as well."

Finally she concluded with: "I hope you wake up soon, uncle. Preferable today."

She sighed. "But if you can't do that yet, I'll be back tomorrow, the day afterwards and perhaps for the rest of the week as well."

"Take care, uncle." She whispered before pressing a kiss upon the point- and index-finger of her right-hand and placed those upon the bubble above his forehead. "I hope you dream of the stars until you wake up."

She turned away and reached for her bag, pulling out a small number of scales, horns, claws and fangs."

"To Iapetus." She whispered whilst Serephone closed her fist with an audible smack, incinerating the trophies in the silver flames.

Finally both gave a sigh and abandoned the Titan Lord of the West.

"Your uncle is lucky to have his niece taking care of him like that." Serephone told her with a gentle, almost admiring voice.

Remembering the last time she had seen Iapetus and the time before that, Penthesilea shook her head.

"If only I was half the niece you think I am." Penthesilea whispered bitterly. "Trust me I have no reason to feel proud."

Serephone stared at her for a moment, then the empousa shook her head and threw a last glance upon the fading light which was reflected by the silver bubble. "I still believe you should be." She whispered, just loud enough for herself.

* * *

"Did you hear any new rumours?" Penthesilea asked Serephone whilst turning her back to the empousa.

"A few, some quite interesting." Serephone replied whilst moving a bit backwards, so she could lean against the wall of Penthesilea's room. In front of her, Penthesilea reached in her closet for new cloths to replace the rags she had been wearing for the past days.

"Tell me about them." Penthesilea ordered her, prompting Serephone to sport an obviously exaggerated lecherous smile.

Another sigh and Penthesilea made a circular motion with her index finger, which made the empousa turn around as well, all the time loudly moaning and complaining.

"I am not hearing you talking." Penthesilea told her with obvious pleasure about her little success in her own attempt at frustrating the empousa.

All the while learning about passing monsters, Damned and even the near approach of Krios at one point, Penthesilea began removing her old clothes and fitting the new clothes. Most of it fitted her nicely enough, forcing her only to replace the leggings.

"You can turn around now." Penthesilea told Serephone, prompting instantly a wolf whistle from the empousa, immediately followed by another eye roll from the demigoddess.

"So, how do I really look?"

Serephone stared at the girl for a moment, obviously enjoying the opportunity to objectify her friend.

The demigoddess wore a cuirass from dark leather which fitted her snugly, although it had the unfortunate side effect of minimising her chest. Underneath the leather there was a grey shirt with short sleeves which had likewise been reinforced with leather to protect her skin against the splinters and edges of the environment.

Her right arm was further protected by thin straps of leather which could resist the teeth and claws as well the lighter slashes of some of the weaker monsters. Her left arm remained bare except for a wristwatch.

Further she wore a rather short skirt of purely black leather which had several slits to allow her a wide range of movements. This resulted in an excellent of view of the toned skin and subtle muscles of her slender legs. (unsurprisingly it was the skirt which had prompted Serephone outburst)

Lastly and unlike any of the empousa her lower legs were covered by a pair of dark grey boots which reached till just underneath her knees and a set of ancient looking greaves from stygian iron.

"If it weren't for the boots I'd say you were one of my sisters." Serephone told her rapidly.

"Any way you could..." she began.

Penthesilea shook her head. "I wouldn't last an hour without some solid footwear." She said.

"The advantages of horn and bronze." Serephone told her bitterly.

She smiled a bit when she felt Penthesilea's hand upon her shoulder.

* * *

"Please, continue talking." Penthesilea told Serephone once they had reached the throne room again.

The demigoddess walked past the other empousai towards her own throne and sat down. Her back against one of the armrests and her legs upon the other.

"There are two new recruits." Serephone told her.

"And are they aware of me?" Penthesilea asked her.

Serephone nodded. "They are," she smiled for a moment, "even a known monsterslayer is a better option than Perses' arena or merely wandering through Tartarus without allies."

"Smart girls."

Serephone shrugged. "Obviously."

"They told me something you would like to know, though." Serephone told.

"Trying to make me curious, hm?" Penthesilea asked her with a little smile. "All right, I'll bite. What kind of earthshaking matters have taken place in my absence."

"A war between the gods and demigods in the upperworld." Serephone replied calmly.

Penthesilea had her eyes pointed at Serephone in less than a second.

"You're messing with me." She exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Nope, that's what they told me."

Penthesilea shook her head in disbelief whilst preparing to sit up straight.

"Get those girls to me. I think I wanne hear that from them myself." She told Serephone.

The empousa nodded and beckoned two girls who sat separate from the others closer with a motion from the two fingers of her left hand.

Both girls had retained the illusion of their human appearance, one was a dark blonde with a slight tan who seemed to fit every stereotype of the girl next door whilst the other was a brunette who's features showed a few signs of an Asian descent. She also noticed that both wore what looked like a cheerleader skirt.

The teen couldn't help but throw a triumphant smirk at her friend.

Both empousai were staring at the demigoddess upon the throne. Whilst they had been made aware of who ruled this band of empousai, the demigoddess had gained a status among the monsters during her last years in the upperworld which was akin to Achilles' among the Trojans. Having those sea green eyes now fixed upon them was hardly a reassuring experience.

"How long has it been since you've returned to Tartarus?" Penthesilea asked them with a reassuring voice.

"Two, three days?" The blond replied with a demure voice, obviously guessing.

"Not very long then." Penthesilea said, shrugging then she sighed.

"I am not going to kill you without a good reason." Penthesilea told them.

She pointed her gaze at them. "I don't know if we've met before, but as far as it concerns me, it is all water under the bridge."

She gave them a small smile. "You serve me, Serephone and Iapetus, in exchange I'll do what I can to protect and lead you."

"I'll do what I can to keep you safe," she continued, "whether that is by keeping to shadows and not attracting attention from the other Gods, Giants, Titans, monsters and Tartarus knows what else dwells down here in the pit."

"Or by killing everything that dares to raise it's head and threatens one of mine." At this point her eyes became cold and the soft almost gentle smile gained an ice-cold edge."

"So please tell me what's going on." She ordered them.


	2. Hogwarts's Coven

**For those who are interested. I had originally several ideas about a Harry Potter-underworld/ vampire-universe crossover.**

 **This was one of the other potential candidates.**

 **Another involved Selene Potter making her vicious return to an England that was totally not prepared for her (wrong-girl-who-lived, but with the Potters and Dumbledore far less to blame than in most stories) due to the cup. She would have been being far more interested in turning Hogwards into a recruiting ground for future vampires and servants, then she is interested in saving (or destroying magical Britain). Furthermore by that point she would have saved Amelia from Lucian's lycans so we would have left canon-underworld ground very soon. Incidentally the books from a third-rate writer in the mental-department from the magical hospital would have left most the English magical population horribly unprepared for a meeting with a cunning and blood-drinking vampire. On the contrary Kruml and the other Bulgarians would have been very well aware, so this would have led to some Humour due to Selene having realised that rather well.**

 **Or you had the path in which I abandoned the underworld route all together and would have introduced Koré Potter who would happen to be the Human servant from Elisabeth Bathory after the Dursleys happened to lose her upon a Gypsy-fair. Don't ask why they were there, instead try to imagine what would happen once Dumbledore tries to break that news gently to the order. (yes, another wrong-girl-who-lived, but sincerely try to imagine Dumbledore attempting to explain that Molly, or the other Potters and Sirius whilst he trusted the Dursleys with her).**

 **In the current idea I would have stayed far closer to the canon qua universe. Although you'll notice quickly enough that Ceres is far more vicious, intelligent and calculating than Harry ever was or would be. Having lived through several confrontations which had her completely out-muscled, out-skilled, out-numbered and out-gunned she would be becoming a slytherin to the core and would have enjoyed that very much. Part of the idea was mostly a relative lighthearted, humorous concept: having a vampire Ceres constantly engaged in a battle of wits to outsmart Dumbledore, Fudge and Umbridge whilst she simultaneously attempts to build her own harem/ coven by turning willing witches into vampires and human servants. All of this with a healthy dose of Sirius and Fleur trying to interject their own ideas with Ceres "madness"(Sirius is a Black and Fleur is [technically] a magical semi-human being, both would know she is a vampire from the moment they laid eyes upon her).** **Unfortunately the intro would have been far more grim than the rest of the story, and this is part of the reason which made me pick Hera over Ceres.**

 **Lastly a warning, in this chapter there is an attempted (!) rape.**

* * *

 **Hogwarts's** **Coven**

The girl moved silently through the corridor of the maze. Her back was only inches from the wall and that was not merely metaphorical considering the leaves, branches and thorns which had left their marks upon the worn-out jersey. Her breathing was shallow and fast and she moved forward with her wand at the ready. She was all alone, in the meaning that nobody would or could help her anymore, a feeling she was getting year after frustrating year, more familiar with.

Her breathing became louder, unfortunately, feeling alone was something completely different of actually being alone. How she wished the last was now the case.

The maze was a death-trap in every sense of the world. A sfinx, a monster know to rip people to shreds for failing to answer a riddle, skrewts, acromantulas and only Hagrid knew what else, two males each at least three years older than herself and she had already found one of these putting the only other female contestant in a full paralysation. After Kruml had ran off, (she had no idea why he did that after he had recognised her, she knew he was a better trained and more experienced duellist then herself, damn Hogwarts for that gaping hole in her skills.) she had dragged Fleur away of what might have turned out to be a man/ veela-eating bush and had tried to revive her. Unable to remove the spell, she had done the only thing remaining. Shooting sparks in the air so that one of the teachers would come take the French girl to safety.

She sincerely wondered what had been wrong with her for not taking that opportunity to get out of the tournament as well. Most likely adrenaline she suspected, the rush after chasing the greatest seeker in the world away.

It was quite obvious why she wore the red and gold of Gryffindor and not the blue and bronze of Ravenclaw or the green and silver from Slytherin.

For the love of God, she had been forced into a tournament that been abandoned due to the even to wizards unacceptable high death toll. Her first task had her literally being pushed into an arena to face an angry, nesting mother dragon. The second had her best friend and former best friend kidnapped and dumped into the Black Lake, with the threat of being lost forever if she failed to get them in time and the third, well things weren't exactly looking up. Tournament for improving international cooperation, her ass!

Suddenly she felt a chill in the air. She paused for a moment, taking a deep a breath before she crossed the next corner and growled, her anger drowning out the fear and cold.

A tall cloaked figure stood in front of her, his face hidden by the large hood but his breathing was loud, almost like a growl.

Grabbing a hold of her favourite memory, (Hermione hugging her after the girl awoke from her petrifaction, ) Ceres casted her Patronus. An inner warmth seemed to fill Ceres instantly. The silver stag stood still for a moment, strong and prideful, the antlers upon its head high in the air. Then Prongs lowered his head, Ceres couldn't help but smile when the majestic animal seemed to scrape one of its hind legs across the ground. Then the silver creature charged forward. The hooded figure had stared at the animal for a few moments, taking a step backwards when it prepared to charge.

Ceres realised something was wrong when she saw the figure extend his arms towards Prongs.

He was preparing to catch it!

Prongs charged forward either unaware of the actions of the unknown figure or simply not caring about it. The antlers connected with a pair of pale skinned, long nailed hands which appeared from the sleeves of the black coat. The figure took another step back due to Prong's impact, then before the surprised Ceres could call him back, the stag seemed to shimmer away, leaving nothing but mist swirls behind which faded away after another few seconds.

"Prongs?" Ceres whispered taken aback, but still pointing her wand at the hooded figure. "Who or what are you?"

"I am," the figure began, not finishing his sentence before he raced towards her. "Andrei."

He was fast, even inhumanly so, Ceres had no time for more than one spell.

Casting a stabbing-spell, a red beam shot from her wand towards his chest. However Andrei's speed was no less than his reflexes and the moment the red flash shot from her wand, his foot pushed himself off the ground to the right, making the curse fly past him.

Then he had reached her and Ceres felt his hand slam against her chest with enough force to imitate a sledgehammer or even a veritable battering ram.

She felt her back hit the ground and the back of her head followed less than a moment later.

For a moment unable to think properly, she scrambled up slowly, all the while shaking her head to make the mist inside of her skull disappear.

She was still upon hands and knees when her mind had cleaned up enough to realise her assailant was calmly walking towards her and she was wandless!

Feeling the panic erupting inside of her, she looked around her rapidly, frantically trying to find her wand.

Her assailant noticed her motions and paused for a moment, showing her a large, cruel smile which revealed a set of small but noticeable fangs.

Another chill crawled down her spine.

"A Vampire." She whispered, somehow feeling even more afraid. She had no trouble recalling her last meeting with one of the grand monsters. Lupos had nearly killed her several times and the man, well technically wolf hadn't even meant to. What was next? A cowardly lunatic returning something he could never hope to control from the dead?

Noticing her wand behind her, she turned her head towards the vampire for another quick glance.

The vampire shot her an even bigger and crueller smile in reply and Ceres turned around, running as fast she could.

Ten feet, nine feet, eight, she could already imagine the vampire behind her, seven, she lunged forward towards her wand. A hard push made fall upon her belly and she felt a hand press her even harder against the earth. She had her wand though, then the hand which pressed her down was replaced with a knee. A moment later her wand had been plucked from her hand.

Feeling the pressure upon her back lighten, Ceres crawled up, resting up hands and knees, which made the vampire's smirk even broader.

Ceres turned around just in time to see him push her wand down his wrist holster!

A slap of the vampires hand threw her sideways, scarcely a feet from the hedges, laying upon her back. One hand between her breasts and one knee between her thighs to stop her from closing her legs. Ceres was panicking, there was no other word for her current feelings but terror. She wasn't thinking, just acting instinctively, she tried desperately to push and kick him away, to put her nails in his eyes and scratch his face open, all the while hissing like a angry cat. The vampire ignored all attempts to dislodge him from her, instead his spare hand went to the hem of her jersey and the shirt underneath it. Grabbing a hold of both, the vampire gave it a hard tug and a diagonal tear tore Ceres's clothing open. Ceres ignored her first reflex which was to protect what remained off her modesty and instead fought even harder, growing all the wilder.

Tearing her nails through the skin of his cheek, the vampire gave an annoyed growl.

Grabbing her wrist with his second hand the vampire pushed the hand down whilst forcing the second hand down with his elbow. His now freed hand grabbed the textile upon her left shoulder and tore it apart, baring the flesh of her shoulder and neck.

Grabbing a hold of her hair, Andrei forced Ceres to place her head upon her right shoulder.

For a moment he stared down upon the struggling girl, his face filled with a grim satisfaction, then he opened his mouth and bit down at the point where her neck turned into her shoulder.

A red hot wave flood over her and for a moment her resistance became even more fierce, then it began faltering. Time after time the fangs penetrated her skin.

She felt the red hot liquid which was her blood pour out of the wound over her shoulder and gradually a feeling of apathy started to wear down her instinct to fight.

Feeling the slacking of her resistance the vampire allowed himself to lose most of himself in his ecstasy to drink her blood.

Ceres' panic had ebbed away, but her desire to save herself hadn't yet.

She wasn't scratching anymore, instead she had grabbed his wrist and tried to push him away.

Andrei ignored her hand closing around his wrist. Instead he focused upon the taste of her blood and the feeling of her smooth stomach beneath his hand, slowly reaching lower.

* * *

Ceres shot up and opened her eyes, jumping out of her bed she raced towards mirror.

She grabbed a holt of the hem of her shirt at her shoulder and pulled it down, exposing the skin from her shoulder. She recognised the numerous little scars where the vampire's fangs had ravaged the flesh of her collarbone instantly. Her breathing was fast and shallow, placing both her hands next to the sides of the mirror, she tried slow her breath down, calming herself.

Looking in the mirror she saw a small, pale skinned girl stare back at her with bright green eyes. The girl had thick, dark hair which reached until just past her shoulders. It's length a necessity since it turned her otherwise messy and sheer untameable hair in a more manageable and rather beautiful cascade of ink. She had a slender, even petite figure which was further adorned with subtle muscles and softer roundings. Her breasts weren't overly large, but they were firm and perky. Even so most of her body was currently hidden underneath a shirt that had obviously been meant for a male who had been at least a full foot taller than her and possible four times as heavy.

Whilst upon her more charitable days, Ceres would call herself rather pretty, she was currently feeling as far off from those days as possible. Her eyes were red and her skin was damp with sweat. She was still shaking from the memory, her hand absentmindedly caressing the visible scars which the vampire had left her.

Behind her a snow-white owl hooted and she turned around. A moment later she felt the familiar weigh of Hedwig upon her shoulder. She smiled when the owl rubbed it's head against the side of her own head.

"Hey girl," she whispered.

" _Hoot?"_

"That nightmare again."

" _Hoot?"_

"It's nothing." She whispered. "Just me being a big baby."

" _Hoot_!" The owl barked angry at her whilst getting into her face.

She reached out towards the owl and rubbed gently the side of it's head.

"Hush girl." She whispered affectionately, an obvious smile upon her lips.

"It was that memory again." she admitted. "The one before Cedric's death, with the vampire."

" _Hoot?"_

"Yeah, it worries me too."

Still taking quick shallow breaths, Ceres turned around and walked towards her desk. She pushed a few books aside with the back of her hand and reached for a small staple of letters.

She ignored the few quickly scrabbled notes from Ron and the more elaborate, neatly written letters from Hermione. Neither of those two seemed to write anything worth the trouble of actually writing it down, from what she gathered from Hermione's and Sirius' letters the three of them had been ordered to keep quiet about almost everything.

The only useful thing the letters contained were the replies from Hermione when she asked purely school-related matters, like help in trying to raise her Runes from A+ to an E. At times she really wanted to bash her head in with the club from the creature which had leant it's name to the lowest grade for forsaking what quickly turned out one of her favourite courses for divination. Still, she hoped that the damage from that one missed year would stop showing in the near future.

Finally finding the letter she was looking for, Ceres reached for an extraordinary thin piece of parchment which she had read through several times and climbed back into her bed.

Fleur's penmanship was small and neat, not unlike Hermione's in that regard and a far cry from Ron's or her own large and irregular scribbling. However where Hermione wrote each word down in quick and economic fashion, Fleur's letters showed a rather elaborate elegance and it was quite obvious that she had taken her time for each letter upon the parchment and even more importantly that she might have spend years practicing to gain the elegant calligraphy she now displayed. Gabrielle, Fleur's little sister had likewise a rather elegant but much less practiced handwriting in which she made her own small contributions to the letters to her and her sister's saviour.

 _Bonjour Ceres._

 _Happy to read you're doing well. I am sorry to hear that you're still locked up in "Durskaban". I would invite you to come over but Bill told me his family plans to ask you over shortly. At your request I asked him when shortly was and he became rather subdued afterwards. Most peculiar indeed. You mentioned that your friends in their letters did the same and I suspect these proceedings are related. However whilst I'd prefer to speak with you about how I am dealing with my freedom now I am released from school, I have far graver news to tell you. As you know I applied for a job at Gringotts recently and in that context I began reading your newspaper the daily prophet (I stand by what I said earlier, it is a horrible, unprofessional rag!). I don't know whether you are unaware of what they are writing but they seem intent on portraying you as an attention-seeking miscreant. Of course, I as well as everyone who ever had the pleasure of meeting you knows this is a grave untruth._

 _Still, it makes me wonder if anyone, whether it be you or me, when I get to work, who will be safe in England._

 _Please be careful Ceres!_

 _You saved my life, you saved my sister's life! You are my friend! Each of these three on it's one would be a sufficient cause for that request. The fact that I have three reasons makes it all the more important for me to make that request, so I will repeat it once more. Please be careful, Ceres! Please be safe!_

 _Your friend, Fleur Delacour. & Gabrielle_

 _You cannot imagine how much I like adding the last line._

Ceres smiled when she reread the last name. It was quite obvious that Gabrielle had added herself in as a last-minute-addition, together with her own letter which whilst quite a bit flightier and more cheerful than her sister's was no less heart-warming. Remembering the cute, silver haired future-heartbreaker, she couldn't help but smile a bit broader. It wasn't hard to realise why Fleur dotted on her little sister. Something furthered by the little heart which Gabrielle had added instead of a dot above her I. However it was the former Tri-Wizard-Champion who held the most of her affection from the two siblings.

Ceres could effortless recall the moment she noticed Fleur for the first time. The older girl had at the time been hiding her features behind a shawl, mostly an attempt to stop her allure from interfering with the already nearly non-existent common sense of the present mages. She had seemed little different from the statue of a goddess at the time. Almost impossibly beautiful, a perfect being crafted according to an ideal and not so much a human being. Her visible arrogance and aloof behaviour hadn't helped to endear herself to the population of Hogwarts though. It was only after the second task, after Fleur fell from the pedestal so many had set her upon, that she actually had gotten to know the champion.

For a moment she sat down with the letter in her hands, then she smiled remembering the real introduction from the Veela to the "Little girl". A silver haired bullet which bowled her almost back into the lake whilst she was still half unconscious before kissing her on both her cheeks, smearing these with blood. The Veela had looked most likely worse than she ever had and possibly worse than she ever would again. Fleur's face and limbs had been marred by numerous cuts, her robes had likewise been torn and just like her visible skin had clearly been besmirched with remnants of blood.

"You saved 'er," Fleur had said breathlessly whilst grabbing the younger champion in a tight embrace. "Even though she was not your 'ostage!"

Always a token of eloquence, Ceres hadn't been able to come up with a better reply then a quietly whispered "Yeah" before getting another two kisses.

Then Fleur had turned towards Ron and said, "And you too-you 'elped."

Who had likewise replied "Yeah," but whilst looking extremely hopeful.

She had sympathised completely with Hermione who had looked furious. Ron might have been her second best friend for a long time, but his betrayal before the first task and the elaborations about his role during the second task afterwards had created a distance between him and the remaining two-third of the former golden trio. It stung quite hard that Ron had abandoned her first and then had the gall to do exactly what he had accused her of, cheating and lying for a few minutes of fame. They were still friends, but Hermione and her had quite obviously grown closer whilst Ron had drifted away.

Whilst Ceres and to a lesser amount, Ron had gained another fifteen minutes of fame as result of 'their' rescue of the sister from the Beauxbatons-champion, said Champion's failure had resulted in an equally deep fall from grace. Fleur however had taken said fall with an almost extraordinary resignation and had instead decided to focus upon doing better in the final task in silence.

Fleur wasted no time however in contacting the Girl-who-was-previously-considered-the-underdog-from-the-competition and offering her help apart from a reconfirmation from her gratitude for the rescue of Gabrielle, this time sans kiss.

Neither Ceres nor Hermione was foolish enough to refuse the help from a witch who was not only several years their senior, but who had received a different schooling as well and had frequently ended up among the top of her year. Fleur had indeed ended up teaching them a lot, Flitwick, Babbling and to a lesser amount McGonagall were in for a surprise in that regard.

Still, both parties had been rather pleased with the trade-off, the two younger witches with the lessons (in particular Ceres was overjoyed with her new sparring partner. Hermione had plenty of knowledge, but she was rather lacking when it came down upon thinking upon her feet. Ron was better in that last regard, but his lack of knowledge was a definite drawback. Loyal Neville was too shy to fight back properly. The twins were capable of taxing her in both regards, but they were mostly busy with their OWL's and their own business, so those matches were rare pleasures. Why, oh why had the duelling-club been limited to a single session? Or even better, why was the staff uncommonly vigilant in their desire to prevent the establishment of an Underground Duelling Ring? Sincerely, the twins, Flint, Jordan, Davies, Fawcett, Stebbins, Leanne, Heather, Cedric and that were just the attempts she knew of. All had tried at some time to establish another Duelling Club and had been met with uncommonly harsh denials or even punishment.)

It wasn't like Fleur gained nothing though. Ceres was a capable fighter with good instincts and powerful magic even if she lacked formal training and was more than capable of thinking out of the box, once she set her mind to it. Hermione on the other hand had a for a fourth year baffling capability for research, capable of reducing what might otherwise be hours or even days between the books and bookcases of the Hogwarts-library into a matter of minutes.

Considering how small her own circle of friends had been before the tournament and how much smaller it had become after the second task, Fleur had been happy to accept the guarded friendship of both. Over the next months all three had gradually opened up more to one other, mostly to Ceres though. Both Hermione and Fleur retained a certain wariness towards each others.

* * *

It was a couple of hours later when she was woke up brusquely.

Growling Ceres bared her pearly white teeth and glared at the cause of the disruption, before she threw a quick glance at the wristwatch upon her nightstand.

"What!?" She snarled at the horse faced woman in front of her.

"It is half past six." Petunia said snappish whilst staring at the wall next to her niece's face.

"And that means?" Ceres asked her, feeling no need to return anymore courtesy than she had been granted over the years.

"That it is time for someone to be making breakfast for me and my family." Petunia almost spat at Ceres, whilst pulling the curtains open.

Ceres growled, turning her head away from the light which was utterly unwelcome in her room. Something which might have troubled her if she had been more awake and willing to think coherently. However considering she had only slept for a couple of hours, she didn't.

"Than do that and let me sleep!" Ceres growled, now pulling the sheets back over her head and curling further up.

"Listen here, Ceres. I know you aren't allowed to use any magic at home, thus for as long as we allow you in our home, you will obey our rules." Petunia reminded her annoyed, but with an obvious glee for what she considered her winning argument.

Unfortunately for her, Ceres had years of experience arguing with smarter and more devious people than her aunt ever could hope to be. What she had lacked over the years was simply the will and ruthlessness to use her own intelligence for anything more than some back talking. Considering what she had been through at the end of the year and during what some considered "holidays", the idea of being-the-better-person had been firmly banished to the backseat whilst the-intention-of-taking-an-advantage-when-she-could had been put behind the wheel.

"Are you stupid?"Ceres asked her in return, aware that she wouldn't get rid of the sun and return to the bliss of sleep, before her aunt left. "Or simply suffering from an overly selective memory?"

"What?" Petunia whispered at her, somewhat trying to make the whisper threatening. After hearing the clicking of an Acromantula's jaws, the hiss of a basilisk, the rattled breathing sound of a dementor, the howl of werewolves, ... . Well whatever impression the Dursleys believed they could make upon her, they seemed remarkable tame compared to the hate and disgust she felt for them.

"Summer of eleven, Duddley gains a matching pigtail," she said fake-yawning, "twelfth, a floating pie."

"That was a very expensive cake which I had ordered by...," Petunia interjected furiously.

"Don't care. I never tasted it." Ceres yawned again. "age thirteen, I blow up Marge."

She actually smiled at the memory, no matter how shocked she had been at the time. It also helped that it had been two years since the hell-carrots had tried to find every possible joke about her blowing up. It did mystify her that Dursleys had accepted her back though, they remembered what happened so that wasn't what the aurors had done, maybe a mild version of the imperius? Perhaps she should feel a bit more unsettled by the thought, but it were the Dursleys and she couldn't bring herself to care about them.

"Fourteen. The Weasleys blow up your hearth and drop one of their toffees." Ceres recalled with a tedious voice whilst Petunia gained a rather Vernon-like purple colour. She repressed a smirk, it had felt so good to turn the tables upon the twins and repeat every single joke about blowing up, they had imposed upon her.

"Tell me, in all those years, what punishment has the magical world imposed upon me?" Ceres asked her.

"The letter," Petunia began triumphantly before her voice rapidly lost its gusto, "they threatened to send you from school."

"And three years later, I am still here?" Ceres reminded her. "You should have tried informing yourself a bit about the magical world." She added.

"They don't care about none-magical people." Ceres told her. "Just about the mess you cause. In fact quite a few of them wouldn't even call you human, just like centaurs, vampires, goblins, werewolf and all of their ilk."

"Your opinion doesn't matter to them," Ceres continued, "to them you're even less than to me."

Petunia was staring at her niece with anger.

"That's a lie, you got a letter and Lilly," she took a deep breath and corrected herself. "She never dared to try magic at home."

Ceres eyes opened a bit wider at the mention of her mother.

Then she shook her head, considering what little she actually knew about the woman it was hardly surprising.

"Number one student, genius, kind and sweet, always willing to see the good in others, a redhead's temper." She smirked at the last part of the sentence. Now with the addition of an overly large respect for authority, there was undeniable similarity with a certain witch she knew.

Closing her eyes, she decided that the conversation had gone on for long enough.

"I am going back to sleep." She announced. "If you actually believe that the ministry of magic would support you over me, come back in another five minutes, we'll see if I can get away with magic this year. If you're more intelligent than I actually give you credit for, leave me alone and don't wake me up."

Petunia stomped out of the room and after that the hallway, clearly forgetting that both males in the house were still asleep. Ceres gave another growl when she realised that the curtains had retained open and she stood up, closing them again.

Once she laid down again she checked the side of her arm which had been exposed the most to the sunlight. It felt a bit sensitive, the light hadn't hurt her but it hadn't felt as if it agreed with her.

She groaned again. "Where is a magical library when I actually need it." She whispered. It was not as if muggles knew anything reliable about vampires.

She sighed again before thinking back at what she told her aunt. The sad thing was, everything she told her about her world was true. Muggles were tolerated at best, whilst anything "non-human" or out of the ordinary was either loathed or treated with arrogant paternalism.

"Merlin," she whispered "I am getting depressing."

Her last thought before she closed her eyes again and fell asleep was about how she might need to change that first word to Dracula in the future.

* * *

It was almost noon when Ceres decided to leave her bed. By and large she was rather surprised, the Dursleys had left her alone for so long. It seemed like she had underestimated their sense of self-preservation. She smiled, of course that petty little people like them would understand nothing but the threat of getting crushed.

Walking towards her mirror she began removing her clothes and she took the mirror from wall and began once more with observing the scars from every possible angle.

Madame Pomfrey had told her at the check up after the tournament that most scars would disappear gradually. There was no sign of that yet and truth to be told, she had begun doubting that over a week ago. She hadn't told anyone except for Hedwig of her attacker being a vampire, not even Hermione or Sirius and neither had Poppy when she made that diagnosis. Dumbledore and the minister had entered before she could have admitted the nature of her attacker and the aftermath of the conversation had left her rather bitter and unwilling to talk about it. Most people didn't even know anything happened in the labyrinth at all and she had no doubt there would be plenty of rumours of her being given the easy route, once school began again.

On an unrelated note, the moment she had begun doubting the healing of her scars would ever happen was the same as the moment she realised that she had begun preferring the dark over light and had lost most of her appetite.

Sighing she reached for some of her clothes. What "normal" clothes she had, was rather limited and mostly a mix of Dudley's and Petunia's castoff with the occasional addition from the thrift shop.

Still as shabby as she looked in them, exactly the impression the Dursleys wanted her to make, they served her needs. She picked a long-sleeved shirt which covered her arms, as well as a pair of jeans which were several sizes to broad for her but as baggy as they appeared, it was nothing a belt couldn't fix. Still it did remind her that she would need to use her first visit to Diagon Alley for some clothes as well as her school stuff. Considering the heat wave which had struck Britain during the summer, she had no need for anything heavier than a shirt and it gave her the perfect excuse for a cap. Said cap, a black cap adorned with the symbol of Nike at the front which Dudley at the time had wanted before dumping it like so many other things in her room during her absence. She wasn't complaining, she liked the cap.

Putting the cap upon her head, she pushed her feet in her sneakers, another thing she had to replace ASAP and threw her book bag over her back. Then she left, she had made it a point to spend as little time with the Dursleys as she could, she wasn't going to change that now. Every minute inside the house was one too many.

* * *

 **For those who were wondering: Ceres might have lost her life due to the vampire, she did not lose something else. ...The vampire ended up being slowly burned to death by a particularly furious Ceres. (There was no deus ex machina, I do think even Canon- 4th Year-Harry or First Year-Hermione could have done it)**


	3. A bond between Sisters

**Right first off all the warnings, unlike the previous chapters, this one contains over 22 000 words (I am noticing a tendency in the seize of my more recent chapters).**

 **Secondly this is a crossover between Naruto and Star Wars which I wrote before I saw The Last Jedi (I have done so recently) or Rogue One, therefore all similarities between this story and either of these two movies are pure coincidence. References to Naruto, the other Star Wars movies or the original battlefront II-game are most definitely not.**

 **Thirdly, this chapter has not been checked by a beta, so mistakes qua spelling are expected (sadly enough) and will be all mine.**

 **Lastly, this particular chapter exist out of three parts, the first should interpreted as a book from the Empire containing their official history.** _Translation: this means that not everything might be 100% truthful, nor does it mean that it is 100% impartial (have fun with with making up your own interpretation of these events)_ **It is supposed to represent what most Imperials most likely believe though. The second part is a more traditional story which takes place in the so-called warlord-Era of the (now non-canon) Star Wars-Legends (several years after the destruction of the Second Death Star) + elements of the Naruto-verse, whilst the third is a related one-shot which precedes the "main-story". For easy recognition, both the first and the third part are written in cursive.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Our story starts years before the war which would split the galaxy in a Rebellion and an Empire, or rather in a Republic and the ever shifting number of domains controlled by the warlords who claim to represent said Empire_ _erupted_ _._

 _Instead we will have to go back with several decades, to that other war which divided the galaxy in a rebellion, which at the time was known as the Confederacy, and a power known as the Republic. This corrupt, indecisive behemoth was the same institution which the later Rebellion idolized and imitated._

 _In those days the Republic lacked an unified, formidable army. Instead the Senate relied upon a mixture of ragtag militias, guard corpses, mercenaries and local fleets... and of course their foremost peacekeepers, the Jedi._

 _Nowadays there is little reliable information remaining about these Jedi, most of the knowledge_ _was lost in the chaos of the Clone Wars and the subsequent reformation of the Republic into the Empire under the leadership of_ _their_ _former Chancellor, the later Emperor Palpatine._

 _What little we_ _do_ _know nowadays makes it rather obvious that the Jedi were not the force for good as which they liked to style themselves._

 _There is plenty of evidence and there are numerous works which detail_ _the machinations of these Jedi before and throughout the Clone Wars. However simultaneously, there are plenty of local legends which detail the adventures and achievements of the Jedi. Whilst it is likely that the majority of these stories are either a fabrication (most likely created or directed by the Jedi) or at the very least an exaggeration, there were plenty of these "legends" with too much evidence or witnesses to be completely dismissed._

 _An often repeated argument against the unselfishness of these actions is that they helped to support the image the Jedi liked to represent. However, the gentle character and kindness of the Jedi (towards those they considered friends, allies or subjects) has been emphasized throughout the ages and upon too many different occasions to be a complete fabrication._

 _Whilst this knowledge goes back to the early days of the Empire, it was only a few years after the destruction of the First Death Star that it truly gained attention and caused an overhaul in way the academic world investigated everything related to the Jedi._

 _Whilst it is unlikely that the galaxy will ever find out how many of the so-called Padawan's, Knights and possibly even Masters were innocent to the overall crimes of their order, it seems far more likely that the majority of the blame should be shifted squarely upon the shoulders of the Councillors and Masters._

 _If this theory is correct, it might explain why a number of confirmed former-Jedi ended up serving the Empire in the aftermath of the failed revolt and indeed, often turned out to be the most ruthless and most tenacious hunters of their former comrades._

 _It also creates questions about the nature of the demise or dismissing of some of the members of the sect._

 _However it also calls for a rehabilitation for some of the Jedi whose memories might actually be deserving of respect and honour._

 _It is with one of these Jedi's with which our actual story starts._

* * *

 _His name was Naruto Uzumaki and he was the seed from which an entire tree would sprout._

 _The earliest known information we have about him implies he was sold or handed over to the Jedi-Temple by his original parents, this is most likely a false trail, but more about that later._

 _Throughout his life Naruto was known as an exceptionally powerful and kind (although not too bright) Jedi who seems to have spend most of his years as Padawan and Knight with travelling throughout the numerous systems with his Master. During these years he quickly established himself as a loyal, charismatic personality with a great aversion to injustice and an unwillingness to back down in the face of adversity._

 _There is a well known recording which involves him (among a few other young Jedi-knights) giving a pair of corrupt senators and a Jedi-master a verbal dressing down in front of a full court-audience. This author notes that there is no known evidence of this Jedi-master ever being brought to justice, just like he notes that after said trial, Naruto never again mentioned a date for his envisioned nomination to the rank of master._

 _Despite his habit of speaking out of turn, something even the young man noticed, Naruto was quickly perceived as the poster child of the Jedi Order and a favourite of the public._

 _His death during the early days of the Clone Wars therefore came as a massive shock and urged an outcry for revenge which eventually led to the funding of two battalions of militia-volunteers from planets which he visited in earlier times._

 _It is currently unknown whether his death was an accident, the result of a miscommunication, a consequence of his own recklessness and lack of military experience or something more sinister._

 _Whatever the cause, all witnesses agree he died in an attempt to save what little that remained of the men and women which had been entrusted to him by the military._

* * *

 _In most situations, this would have been the end of Naruto Uzumaki and the young man would have been reduced to no more than a footnote in a history and legends._

 _However by the end of the war irregularities upon Kamino had convinced the Emperor of the need to commission clones of different templates in addition to the enlistment of natural born soldiers._

 _It was in those days that a group of Arkanian clone-masters decided to utilize a particularly promising sample for their experiments._

 _The result of these was a group of hundred clones of the former Jedi-knight. This first generation of the Uzumaki-line of clones quickly proved themselves as extraordinary loyal in their allegiance and steadfast under fire, however it was another discovery of the Arkanians which resulted in the commission of record numbers of these troopers._

 _Naruto Uzumaki was no human!_

 _Despite his looks, the Arkanians quickly proved that Naruto Uzumaki was a melting pot of numerous humanoid races. These included, but were not limited to the passionate, red-skinned Zeltrons which were renowned for their likability, attractiveness and their ability to read and feel the people around them, furthermore there were notable traces of the charismatic, pale skinned Nagai who were well known for their skills with blades, their cruelty when allowed to use these and their lust for freedom and individualism, the last greater percentage of non-human genes belonged to the golden skinned Firrerreo who are wild and feral with noticeable canines and are blessed with a greater than human ability to recover from wounds._

 _As much as it baffled the scientists that such a melting pot could exist, it did result in a natural soldier. In fact, it constituted to a being which seemed so well adjusted to battle that it made at least one scientist suspect that the Jango Fett-clones might not have been the first or only attempt the Jedi had made at creating a Clone Army._

 _Their status as near-human would remain a well kept secret for a long time, only privy to the Emperor, the highest cadres of the Imperial military and its navy, as well as a selected number of scientists._

 _However despite this status and their lack of "control over the force", the resulting troopers were prime Storm Trooper material._

 _The moment an Uzumaki opened his eyes, they were almost fanatical loyalty to Empire, it's Emperor and their commanding officers. Furthermore their courage, tenacity and self-confidence bordered to an almost blind recklessness and arrogance which made them treat obstacles, enemy fire, numbers and equipment with an almost dismissive negligence. These traits made it almost as likely for an Uzumaki to obtain a medal as it would be rare for an Uzumaki to obtain a rank above private._

 _However these traits, whilst generally not as obviously present in the other troops as in the Uzumaki were hardly uncommon in the corps._

 _It was another trait of their original template which would make them into an unexpectedly visible and almost preferred source of the clones for the Imperial Army. As aggressive and reckless as they were in war, so kind and gentle they were outside of combat._

 _Like the original Naruto, most Uzumaki tended to surround themselves with people from all kinds of age, race and gender whom they treated with a mixture of kindness, a willingness to help and protect, as well as a naivety which bordered to gullibility. When posted upon a peaceful world, it was not that uncommon to see them mingle with the locals or play with local children and it was often difficult to see who was actually having the most fun._

 _In comparison to most troopers who often lack the patience to deal with " ill-disciplined, big-mouthed, (borderline) treasonous, ungrateful, cowardly, ... civilians" the Uzumaki had a to them incomprehensible desire to "win the hearts and minds" of those very same civilians and generally succeeded in doing so._

 _This made the Uzumaki extremely desirable garrison-forces for every governor. After all, instituting a garrison was a very undesirable option for the Empire: it was expensive, it required troops of which the numbers were always in short supply, it was generally loathed by most of the troops as a cushy, un-soldier like waste of time that should be left to toy-soldiers like the local militias, it often aggravated the discipline and training of said unit and it was equally loathed by the civilians themselves, who disliked the brutish and oppressive ways of the soldiers who seemed either unable or unwilling to understand that civilian life did not follow the same rules as the military and therefore prioritized different traits. Politeness, kindness and patience being three of these last._

 _The Uzumaki removed all but the first of these objections. Since they were clones and grew in a period of barely more than a year they were far more easy to acquire than most born soldiers. Furthermore their discipline was never as impressive as the one shown by born soldiers or most other lines of clones, however this was instantly offset by their natural courage, perseverance and aggression in the face of danger. On more than one occasion an enemy of the Empire found out too late_ _that the blonde so-called third-rate soldiers whom he had dismissed as too passive and gentle to be a threat, were in fact little more than fearless madmen who refused to stay down, no matter how hard these terrorists tried to make them._

 _Lastly, unlike the presence of other troopers, the presence of the Uzumaki was not seen as a punishment by either of the parties. Whilst other troopers generally hardened the feelings of the civilians, the Uzumaki were far more likely to create problems with the civilians by announcing their departure than anything else. As such the Uzumaki were often employed as the metaphorical carrot next to the stick of the Tarkin-doctrine or rather the gentle hand next to armoured fist which it accompanied._

 _That the Uzumaki due to their status as near-human clones, healing factor and high morale were far more likely be seen as cannon-fodder by the highest ranking officers of the Empire was not something most civilians or soldiers were aware of. It was ironic that despite the Empire's humanocentrism, it usually were near-humans who ended up being the representatives of the best that the Empire could offer._

* * *

 _A great many people who were aware of their history have noticed the tendency for mystery in the background of both the template and his clones, this element is curiously enough something which is shared by all three kinds of Uzumaki._

 _It was upon the planet of Uzu, who was later renamed in honour of these Clones, that the final offshoot of Naruto Uzumaki was created._

 _Most sources point at Minato Namikaze as the highest Moff and personal governor of said planet as the commissioner of the new branch. However, considering their gender, physical features and later mission it is not too unlikely that his former teacher and later subordinate Jiraiya of the Sannin, was at the very least strongly involved with their creation._

 _Unlike most clones who had been ordered in those years, the female Uzumaki had not been created with war as a foremost goal in mind. On the contrary even, they had been created to guard and protect and to keep war as far away from their charges as possible. In fact, the actual defense of the planet had been entrusted to a combination of Storm Troopers from both officers' privately funded armies as well as the local militias._

 _The actual duty of the female Uzumaki was described as "the protection of the Harem". It is for this reason that most people are rather inclined to minimize Namikaze's investment in the project and emphasize Jiraiya's. However this might be partly wishful thinking on account of Minato's achievements, behaviour, intellect and ...well, Jiraiya's absolute lack of shame about his legendary perversion. This is especially the case since despite the general association of the word "harem" with a paradise-like, enclosed environment filled with young, exceptionally attractive women (a description which fits the female Uzumaki remarkably well), ... it could just be limited to a secluded part of a household which is reserved for the closest members of one's family._

 _This is not a very uncommon thing in the danger fraught highest levels of the military and political world considering the amount of grudges and enemies which are acquired during one's rise to power. Whether family or lovers, either of these would have made great leverage upon Namikaze or Jiraiya if they were kidnapped or threatened._

 _Considering their well-known rivalry with both the Iwa- and the Kumo-fleet and the eventual (and surprisingly one-sided) conflicts with these two, the decision to establish such a secluded fortress was not without merit._

 _However whilst members of Storm Trooper-corps would have made unparalleled defenders_ _for_ _a fortress, they would have made poor (and in the case of the classical interpretation of a harem, unreliable) guards and companions for its occupants. It was at this point that the Uzumaki most likely came to mind (and that Jiraiya most likely influenced the number of X-chromosomes of the subjects)._

 _Since they weren't created as soldiers for the Empire, these new Uzumaki were never programmed with_ _the_ _same level of loyalty to the Emperor, his institutions and the ideals of the Empire, instead their loyalty was based upon a far more primitive and personal basis. Furthermore they were created to be far more individualistic and independent than most clones ever would be. This made them_ _into_ _far more rounded individuals who could be expected to live and interact with their protectees upon a daily basis without acting like automatons or retreating to the safety of rules and orders._

 _A first unknown side-effect of this was that it gave far more room to the Nagai-like cruelty which most of them seemed to develop, however since this was strictly aimed at their enemies, it would take a long time before this trait was noticed._

 _During the years of their stay at the Harem, their interaction was mostly limited to their charges though and it seems that they quickly developed a view which encompassed both themselves as well as their charges as the members of a family upon whose members they focused all their love, affection and loyalty._

 _Despite this seemingly peaceful, happy existence, it was not without infractions. There were at least three known attempts from specialized commandos to infiltrate the Harem and make off with hostages. None of these men ever made it back out again. This warning of the skills of the guards went unheeded for the time though. It seems that in these days they also gained a very Nagai-like appreciation for knives since it allowed them to take care of treats without "disturbing the more sensitive members of their family"._

 _Curiously, this happiness and mostly peaceful existence did not calm them down, instead they showed the common tendency of the Uzumaki of recklessness and even added an occasional feral wildness to the mix, although unlike the common line of clones, theirs was shown as being far more voluntary and controlled than the males'. This_ _often_ _translated_ _into_ _a combination of seemingly reckless flurries of_ _activity_ _after careful preparation. In addition to these instincts, the Uzumaki developed a cunning that has been rarely witnessed among the male members of their lineage. Considering how wild and treacherous the isolated islands of Uzu were and how dangerous it's predators became over the years, these traits were more like a necessity than a luxury if they wanted to survive outside of the sparse inhabited areas._

 _It was only ten year after their creation that they were forced into the limelight when a rebellious Moff, Mü attempted to oust Minato from his position. For this he required both the control over Uzu and the armoury which Minato by then had established upon the planet as well as it's garrison._

 _Both would be far easier to acquire if Minato could be forced to abdicate (or perhaps if Jiraiya could be forced to switch sides) and as such he made an attempt to capture the Harem._

 _Minato's soldiers fought exemplary but were eventually forced to retreat from all but the most fortified positions. The earlier mentioned armoury was one of these and was kept safe from the traitor's forces. The Harem on the other hand was not. Unlike most other high-profile targets, this palace had been kept isolated, far away from all other high-value targets and cities and therefore was caught unaware by the sudden assault and remained bereft from reinforcements throughout the entire conflict._

 _This translated in a total force of fifty female Uzumaki and a little over two hundred members of the Storm Trooper Corps and members of the personnel with some military experience facing off against a first wave from around a thousand soldiers._

 _The first thing anyone would need to know over the conflict is that Uzu exist almost entirely out of water. What little of human life which can be found there is almost entire localized upon the rare islands which are mostly artificial. These islands are often small and seamed with numerous rivers and are protected from flooding and storms by high cliffs. The Harem itself is rumoured to have been build within the walls of a massive, extinguished volcano, one of the few natural areas available for human habitation._

 _However despite the without a doubt lush fauna which can be found within the safety of these natural walls, Uzu's ocean are known as some of the most violent, treacherous waters within the numerous systems of the galaxy. Storms there are capable of destroying even massive spaceships if these are not specially adapted to the circumstances. Smaller ships which descend into the atmosphere are generally thrown off course by the winds or get destroyed in the waters if they are caught by the seas, whilst even specially adapted ships occasionally "disappear" into the depths of the ocean. This means that most of the traffic which arrives or departs from the planet is forced to do so at specific times and locations. Any movement outside of these periods or outside of these safe zones is bound to get punished by the local environment._

 _Mü was a smart man and he was aware of these conditions, therefore he knew he had to reach his objectives whilst adhering to a strict schedule. What he did not know was the female Uzumaki and his men paid for it with their blood. Four hundred of the troopers died before setting so much as a single boot upon the ground, another three hundred died during the actual battle upon the cliffs. Spread out and without a battle plan or local intelligence worth mentioning, they either found themselves forced to assault a fortified position or they discovered themselves isolated, surrounded and under fire from enemies who kept killing them without ever exposing themselves. By the time the troopers had gathered once again, they found themselves in a lower area near the cliffs. For two days the Uzumaki and their allies did everything they could to keep them bottled up down there, upon the third, the water rose with an incredible speed and drowned most of the remaining troopers. The Uzumaki stood there and watched whilst picking off those who attempted to climb to safety with their knifes or blasters. There was only one survivor and he had been allowed to leave to spread the word of the one-sided confrontation._

 _Mü was a smart, level-headed man, his second in command was not as calm and ordered a renewed assault. Three thousand men left, over three hundred and most of the heavy gear and the supplies never arrived. Over the next days, the Uzumaki returned to their earlier games and fought against the invaders with their by then infamous aggression and ruthlessness. Creating traps and defending fortified positions, picking off isolated men and small groups once they had wandered to far from the main force or if they had failed to link up with them in the first place. The Uzumaki were always retreating, always fighting and always there like a murderous shadow the invaders couldn't get rid off._

 _Without heavy gear or anything but the most primitive tools the invaders marched slowly, with little more than a general impression of where they were bound to go. It is hard to say how many of those three thousand were still alive after a few days, although even if that were known it would have been no less difficult to say how many of them were still able to fight the Uzumaki after a few of those days with only a minimum of supplies. An army exist out of far more than merely men with blasters, there are officers, bureaucrats, medics, mechanics, pilots, escorts and so many other and then there were the walking sick and wounded men._

 _It ought to be sufficient to say that upon the fourteenth day a message arrived at Mü's headquarter, it read:" Send more men, we ran out of targets!"_

 _At this point Mü's main campaign had grounded to a halt and he knew that he had to break Uzu's resistance or face the imperial justice for rebellion. This last option meant a certain death so with the weather's seemingly improving conditions, he made a final gamble and gathered every man he could miss at the front, then he left for the Harem. A final ten thousand men left, then the weather shifted._

 _Another four hundred troopers would end up into the sights of the Uzumaki's blasters before they deemed the threat to their family gone and the dead avenged. The rest of them was never seen or found again, apart from a few whose death was confirmed by a drowned body or part of this washing ashore._

 _At the end of the campaign, Minato and Jiraiya came home to a thirty-two Uzumaki and eighty survivors from the remaining guards and personnel, the actual occupants of the harem had remained unharmed and unseen by the invaders._

 _Minato, several other Moffs and even the Emperor ordered the creation of a great number of the female Uzumaki in the aftermath of the conflict. Most of these would end up being created upon Uzu and getting trained by the original survivors._

 _Despite this temporary craze about the Uzumaki among the Moffs, it did not take these long to see that they made rather poor soldiers in comparison to their male brothers and it seemed as if the female Uzumaki were bound to disappear again as little more than a curiosity, dismissed as the result of a man's perversions despite their victory._

 _However two things happened which would turn their fate around. The first was simple, they were to be shipped en mass to one of the many conflict zones in the outer rim. It is unlikely that they were regarded as much more than a female, less social able version of their male colleagues when this order was given. With this goal in mind the Uzu-spawned clones were ordered to gather upon three ships which belonged to the Kumo-fleet._

 _The second was far more important and far less expected. During the earlier mentioned craze, the head of the Kumo-fleet and patriarch of the Alpha-family had attempted to recreate Minato's Uzumaki-guards but with the necessary adjustments to make them better suited for their tasks as Storm Troopers. The most notable of these tweaks were character-adjustments which made them far more subdued and obedient. Such "fine tunings" are not unusual with cloning, but remain rather controversial to this day. This was especially so considering the gender of these particular clones._

 _Still, considering how uncaring the Jango Fett-clones had been about such adjustments among their own brothers there was no reason to suspect any problems due to it's initiation in the "new and improved" clones of the project._

 _It is unknown when or how the Uzumaki discovered this project and who was to blame, but most of the clones later claimed to have discovered the "perversion" only en route. If this is correct it would imply that it took the female Uzumaki scarcely a single night to execute a takeover of three frigates and to literally execute every member of it's crew. This action becomes even more impressive since they did so without anyone becoming aware of this before they had enacted their next move._

 _This next move was the so-called Tuwan massacre._

 _It was at Tuwan upon the planet Arkania that these new clones had been ordered by the Alpha-family and therefore it was to that planet that the yet unrevealed rebels went._

 _The assault which the Uzumaki undertook is currently known as one of the best recorded examples of commandos in action and is most likely the best studied example as well. It is also established as mandatory viewing material for commando-training in both imperial as well as in Rebel and Republican service. Furthermore these images have proven themselves as a welcome source for Rebel and Republican propaganda._

 _Because the well known contents of these images, I will only briefly touch upon their contents._

 _The first wave of the Uzumaki took off at nine a clock in local time, scarcely half an hour after the changing of the guards. This was undertaken by a number of infiltrators who assassinated these with their knives, then depending upon the position of these guards and the proximity of other strategic targets, they either took their post by donning their victim's helmets and pieces of these trooper's weaponry and thus hid the eliminations or they went to secure secondary objectives like establishing control of gateways and other potential bridgeheads and chokepoints ._

 _The second wave of the Uzumaki further reinforced these positions whilst simultaneously proceeding to infiltrate deeper into the complex. It was this second wave who would be responsible for the actual blockade of the armoury and who assailed the citadel as well as set up the preparations for the storming of the garrison's barracks._

 _It was during this second phase that the first resistance which could have been picked up by the garrison arose. At least one minor guard post at the rear of the complex and a small number of officers preparing to take off with their TIE shuttle were not caught off guard and actually managed to resist for a short while before the Uzumaki succeeded in finishing them off._

 _Unfortunately for the Arkanians, the Uzumaki had successfully jammed the local communications at the first sign of trouble. Therefore there was no suspicion raised which could have warned them. Furthermore a small number of lone soldiers, scientist and officers were executed when they crossed the path of these commandos._

 _The last phase of the preliminary phase of the assault began at quarter to ten. At this point a single Frigate under Uzumaki control asked permission to enter the atmosphere to resupply and to transfer a number of wounded troupers, these they claimed were the victims of a battle with rebels/ pirates._

 _A brief exchange of codes followed and whilst the crew of the control tower noted that most of these codes were older than what was considered usual, they were still useable and the ship was admitted._

 _The actual assault followed mere seconds after the first transports with the requested supplies had returned to the complex. To the well armed Uzumaki which filled the ships, the unaware personnel and troopers constituted to little more than a speed bump before these assault teams continued their advance. Said ships returned instantly to the Frigate to pick up more Uzumaki, this was a flight during which they would have made great targets for the Anti-Aircraft guns. However the same alarm that made the gunners focus upon their weapons, send some of the already present Uzumaki into the bastions where these guns had been installed. With their attention upon the sky or upon their weapon none of them paid any attention to the door. They were shot like ducks in a pond._

 _Other troopers found their end whilst racing to their rally point, the armoury, or whatever post they had been given in case of an assault by the Uzumaki who had already taken their positions. A great number of these troopers found themselves even unable to leave the barracks due to the establishment of mines and repeating blasters. Some of the lucky ones would hole themselves up in there until even these last pockets of resistance were flushed out by the clones with the use of grenades, incinerators or heavier gear._

 _Whilst all of this took place, the majority of another frigate's crew number in Uzumaki was making it's way towards the numerous gaps which their sisters had cut into the defences of Tuwan. This easily quadrupled the number of assailants in the complex and allowed them to exterminate the majority of the already established pockets of resistance whilst simultaneously relieving the beleaguered Uzumaki who had been defending strategic positions as a part of the first wave._

 _The remaining Frigate had at that point aimed its guns upon those defences which had been too far or too well defended to be considered a viable target for the infiltrators. Likewise several squadrons of TIE's had been released and were now wreaking havoc from above._

 _It was barely half past ten when the first of the female Uzumaki set foot into the scientific part of the complex. Most of the scientists were well aware of their value to the Empire and offered little resistance whilst expecting to be ordered to help establish the army of whatever Moff it was that had the gall to attack their scientific sanctuary. The few who did were shot without so much as a hint of a hesitation, the others were left alive for long enough to guide them towards unaltered samples of their female predecessors as well as the original template and to lead them to their newly discovered sisters. In the meanwhile it was up to some of the most technically savvy Uzumaki to download everything of value in the complex. Once all of that had happened, every single scientist who had a role in the creation and adjustment of their sisters was forced upon his or her knees and executed by slitting his or her throat._

 _The first meeting between the unaltered Uzumaki and their altered imitations started off unsurprising tense. At one side of the room stood the bloodstained, heavily armed members of a rebellious force, the same warriors who had brutally slaughtered most of the people whom the others had known for most of their still short lives. At the other side stood the still barely trained, unarmed and unprotected girls and women of Kumo's latest batch of reinforcements who had just seen most of their known world getting broken and shot into pieces._

 _Perhaps some other beings would have hesitated about what to do with the scared looking females, those sedated looking imitations of their proud selves._

 _The female Uzumaki on the other hand did not. They were far more cruel, ruthless and callous than most other beings by their very nature. All it had taken for them to decide to slaughter the crews of the three frigates as well as the population of an entire scientific complex was the word of the existence of those females._

 _The first of the Uzumaki threw her helmet off and exposed her face to the younger generation, giving them a long look of her face before walking towards them. She was instantly followed by her sisters. Each of them still held a weapon, even if it was pointed downward._

 _Then she halted in front of the first of this new generations of Uzumaki and looked her in the eyes._

 _She smiled, "I am your eldest sister, little bit." She said before throwing both her arms around the girl._

 _She held her tight whilst kissing her upon the cheek._

" _You have no idea what we had to do to get you." She whispered._

 _Her weapon had already been dropped upon the floor by then and the other, older Uzumaki had likewise launched themselves upon their younger, newly found siblings._

 _Female Uzumaki were cruel, sadistic even and cared nothing for brilliant ideals or most other people, however they loved their family all the more for it and the idea of their sisters being scientifically broken was far more than what they would have needed to revolt._

 _When they left the complex again, everyone of the older generations of Uzumaki had adopted a pair of little sisters whilst likewise those little sisters had some new older sisters to watch over them._

 _Those younger protégées were far more soft spoken and hesitant than their older sisters, a trait which the majority of them would retain for most of their life but almost everyone of them was sporting an obvious smile when they left the complex again._

 _Usually such a blatant revolt would have been swiftly answered by the Empire, however the Uzumaki gained access to an impressive amount of volatile intelligence in the aftermath of their assault. This information was valuable enough for them to risk arranging a meeting with Minato Namikaze's personal fleet. It is unknown what was discussed between the Moff and the leaders of these "murderous pirates and rebels", but by the end of the conversation Minato had added every member of the Uzumaki to his own fleet. However considering the rest of the story this seems only partly related to a possible lingering affection for the guardians of the Harem. He requested a direct line with the Emperor afterwards. It should be noted that despite being added to Minato's fleet, each of the three frigates had kept a noticeable distance from the fleet and therefore it seems unlikely that the Uzumaki were willing to trust the man who might be responsible for their creation with their lives and that of their youngest sisters._

 _Considering the outcome from the majority of the Empire's dealings with rebellions it could be argued that the Uzumaki had good reason to be careful._

 _However it seems that each of the variants of the Uzumaki is blessed with good fortune in their dealings with authority. The ruthlessness and efficiency, as well as the hints of cruelty which the Uzumaki had displayed seemed to have pleased both the Emperor and Lord Vader._

 _The Emperor soon ordered most Moff's to adopt small units of these Uzumaki-Commandos into their armies and fleets. The reason why would soon become a public secret that chilled the hearts of many officers. Unlike most other commandos, the Uzumaki were only loyal to each other and as some of their commanders and officers were bound to discover over time; years of service, rank or wealth meant nothing to them in comparison to the blood of their siblings. All they needed was a single order from their Emperor and whomever it was that had been pointed out was dealt with, usually permanently._

 _It leaves little to the imagination that this set them even further apart from the other units and ranks. Neither does it makes it difficult to understand that the female Uzumaki therefore became a common (or even the first) target for the frustrations of both the officers and the rankers during a revolt or in troubled situations._

 _Furthermore there have been several occasions over the years during which the Uzumaki have been accused of sabotaging operations of their own armies and fleets. In the case of at least two occasions there might have been some merit in these accusations._

 _This environment made most of the female Uzumaki isolate themselves even further from everyone who was not a member of their families and made them all the more cold and ruthless in their dealings with others. It is not difficult to recognise their situation for what it was, a vicious circle._

 _The aftermath of the disaster of Endor was therefore all the more severe for the Uzumaki and most of them were quickly forced to desert their post to save their own lives. Most of these Commandos tended to return the Konoha-fleet which was still under the command of Minato Namikaze, however there are a few examples of different targets for their exodus._

 _During the ensuing war between the different Warlords of the Empire and the rising Republic the female Uzumaki thereafter served with a similar devotion and skill, although they were renowned for their refusal to harm their sisters and were known to protect them at every occasion, even to the point that they turned upon their former comrades and commanding officers._

 _Excerpt of Iruka Umino's book: The last revolt of the Uzumaki._

* * *

The ensign swore softly whilst making his way past the marines from the star Destroyer.

Imperial ensign Iruka Umino paced down the hallway of the Imperial Star Destroyer Sarutobi. It had been seven minutes since the order had been given to prepare for battle and therefore each of the numerous hallways and corridors was filled with marines, navy-personnel, pilots and officers who were racing in one of the two directions towards their post.

As a former teacher, Iruka liked to consider himself a calm, reasonable man who did not tend to lash out like he had seen some officers do before, in the earlier days of the Emperor.

However he had been forced to admit to himself that sadly enough, pacing down the hallway in frustration had been starting to become a second nature to him.

The cause of this habit could be found behind the third door to his left.

Or like he had noticed during the early days of his current post with a first hint of annoyance, the only door upon the entire spaceship which had been permanently defaced with the image of a crimson fox's head which had been encircled by nine tails. This symbol represented the kyuubi, a demon from some of the most ancient legends in the universe. This monster was supposed to be some kind of construction from a Sith-Lord which, supposedly, had been capable of exterminating entire armies before it fell to the might of the then young and powerful republic.

On a slightly different note, it was also known as the symbol from several squads of the Storm Commandos which had been populated with female Uzumaki. In this case it belonged to the ninth squad of the unit.

Some part of Iruka wanted nothing more than to stomp into the room, the more reasonable part of the former teacher realised that this not only was likely to aggravate the problem, it was also very likely to entertain them. On more than one occasion Iruka had wondered why the difference in the behaviour of some of the most feared commandos in the Imperial Army and a group of eight years olds seemed so small.

Thus Iruka sighed and waited for a second to compose himself before he knocked upon the door.

A moment later he resisted the impulse to sigh again.

The woman who opened the door partially was the cause of his latest ulcer, Naruko Uzumaki and she sported what he had deemed the infamous Uzumaki-smile.

This smile instantly said two things to everyone who saw it. The first constituted of "Yes, I am a predator" and the second part was "And yes again, I am only toying with you until I get bored me thus, for your sake(!), you better make certain I remain entertained".

What made it even more unsettling was that the Uzumaki's tendency to dismiss everyone except for their own siblings and the occasional, extremely lucky soul whom they had adopted in their family, as unimportant made them sport those grins at a great variety of occasions. Iruka had seen them sport those smiles during what they had deemed minor pranks, their habitual breaking of rules as well as during their execution of a few rebel troopers. Of course, Iruka was well aware that they just might have been sporting those smirks simply because they knew he was watching.

Still, Iruka dared to think they liked him somewhat, as it was he had not been the victim of anything more serious than a minor prank. It wasn't like they had made an attempt to kill him yet. Incidentally, it had been Naruko who had impressed the message upon him that "Uzumaki do not try or attempt to kill someone, they succeed! After that she had assured him that, if they disliked him, he would be left without any doubts about that matter.

On a possibly related note, Iruka's predecessor, a certain Mizuki was suspected to have deserted from the fleet before the ensign's arrival and like he found out soon enough, that man had been utterly loathed by the squad. Neither the Uzumaki nor Admiral Sarutobi had been willing to clarify the reason for this dislike, nor had either of them been willing to explain why a promising, well connected and supposedly intelligent young officer had made the mistake of deserting with an escape pod after the ship had already attained light speed.

However, Iruka had been a fairly competent slicer in his younger years and it hadn't taken long before he found out that Admiral Hiruzen Sarutobi had reported an accusation of an attempted rape upon an unspecified woman by Mizuki. This accusation had been dismissed a couple of days later due to the request from an unmentioned official. Another three days later, a patrol found out that an escape pod had been launched and reported that Mizuki's card had been used to gain access to that deck around that time. There were no vids which could confirm his presence in the pod and whilst admiral Hiruzen ordered an investigation, eventually the inquiry lead to nowhere and was closed again.

After that discovery Iruka had made certain to treat his Uzumaki with as much respect as possible, still it had given him some understanding about the cause of the Uzumaki's general willingness to regard every part of their life apart from their family as a possible threat. It was not as if he had ever heard anyone state his or her belief in the Uzumaki's innocence or their support for them either.

Still, it was especially hard to remember being respectful and understanding when each and every member of their kind seemed so eager to cause all sorts of annoyances and troubles for him.

"Yes, something wrong Iruka?" Asked Naruko Uzumaki.

Iruka sighed in return, "Could you start with letting me inside?" He asked with his customary politeness.

The woman tilted her head momentarily, as if she wanted to make clear that she was sincerely considering closing the door, then she shrugged and allowed the door to open completely.

"Step one, complete." Iruka thought with some slight relief.

Whilst every member of Ninth Kyuubi Squadron was present, the majority of them seemed not really willing to pay him some attention which made him sigh again. At times he sincerely wondered why it was that he had been forced to handle the six most unmanageable members of a ship that contained nearly 40 000 men and women. Then he remembered again, because as annoying and difficult the process was for him, the Uzumaki had never before been so calm and easily handled before as they were since he was dealing with them.

He sighed again and pointed his eyes towards Naruko.

Said woman was an Uzumaki from the fourth generation. This meant that she had been created after the assault upon Tuwan, she had never know any other kind of existence then her service to the Empire, a life as a part of a six-woman squad and the isolation from almost everything and everyone else. Naruko herself had been one of the oldest members of her particular batch. This had made her the "big sister" for many of her siblings at the time, something which had eventually resulted in her acquiring a role as team-leader, mentor and organisator. Despite that role as their leader, Naruko was still one of the youngest members of her team, only surpassing Karin and Kurama with a few hours and a single day at most qua age.

She was easily the most attention grabbing member of the group though. Like each of her sisters, Naruko was blessed with stunningly good looks. Whilst none of them was overtly tall, each of them was blessed with a slender middle and a noticeable bust. Furthermore they were the proud owners of a pair of long legs which extended even further in length with every drink that was poured out in the officer's mess. In a more practical addition to those features, each of the girls had the notably developed muscles of a gymnast or a soldier. It was a common joke that the beauty of an Uzumaki did not so much require a ring as well as noticeable set of muscles, calloused knuckles and a weapon's license. Still, Iruka suspected that most of those jokers had not intended to connect those three qualities with the Uzumaki themselves as much as with a male "so-called protector".

Lastly, whilst blessed with a countenance which was as beautiful as their bodies, the most noticeable features from their face were their eyes. These were always rather grand in seize and cyan in colour, a hue which gave an impression of innocence and which seemed to contain a memory of the clear, warm water of a tropical sea.

Unlike their male brethren, each of the female Uzumaki sported red hair by nature, this was a hue that seemed reminiscent of the colour of freshly spilled blood. This was one of the few difference which made Naruko stand out. Unlike most other clones who seemed to prefer their natural colour, Naruko had dyed her hair blond, which added an impression of brightness to her appearance which reminded most people to a young star or a local sun.

A second noticeable difference between herself and her sisters was that she carried a set of noticeable scars upon her face, this were three pairs of thin lines which stained her cheeks. Due to the foul environment during the confrontation and the ensuing lack of bacta, they were past recovery. Once she had found that out, rather than simply retaining the scars she had already obtained, Naruko had paid a doctor to even out and even embellish the scars until rather than a stain upon her features, they seemed more like a further adornment. The effect of these whiskers was that they added a rather feral quality to her beauty unlike the more regal features of her sisters.

The oldest member of the six-woman squad was Mito. Said woman sat at one of the nearby tables where she was busy polishing a compact sniper rifle. Mito's general appearance was not that different from most of the clones, she was beautiful and in a great shape, but most likely as a consequence of her age and experience, Mito was by far the most dignified and calm looking woman of the six. Further unlike the others, she had arranged her crimson hair in a pair of buns which she generally kept in place with a set of hairpins and which she further adorned with three hairclips in front of them. Lastly, there was a rhombus which adorned her forehead.

Like her appearance already implied, Mito was a calm and composed woman, who generally took the role of peacekeeper and calming influence among the squad upon herself. It was as such that Iruka had realised that if he had so much as a single ally in his dealings with the six Uzumaki, it would have been Mito.

There were several obstacles against actually counting upon her in such a regard though. The first was that like all her sisters, Mito was loyal to nobody but her family. The second was that even if she was calmer and less likely to cause problems, she remained an Uzumaki and therefore was only less likely to obey the urge to seek her entertainment at the cost of other peoples nerves, not immune to it. The third and foremost was that if he interpreted some of Naruko's hints correctly, Mito was not merely a member of the second generation and therefore a participant in the assault upon Tuwan, she was one of the original guards of the Harem. Of course, what were the odds of that being true?

Either way, Mito generally assumed a role as Naruko's second in command and often operated as the squad's sniper or designated marksman. Furthermore she had an extensive knowledge of explosives which made her usually handle such.

The second oldest member of the squad was Kushina, she was a confirmed member of the second generation of the Uzumaki and as such had actively participated in the assault upon Tuwan. This meant that at least two members of the Uzumaki squad were confirmed Imperial Trooper killers. And if he was honest, he was not the only member of the crew who wondered how many more of the squad were such.

The second oldest member of the squad was also without an argument physically the most imposing woman of the group, something which was caused by her preference for the far heavier repeating blasters. As if to add to her already formidable appearance, Kushina's hair reached to her ankles which made it seem as if she was constantly surrounded by a waterfall of blood. The woman only used a single set of hair clips to keep these out of her face.

Even if she was the second oldest member of the group, Kushina was far less dignified than Mito though. Said woman had simply thrown herself upon one of the beds and lay there, pushing her bare feet above her against the wall whilst she seemed only half interested in the board game next to her.

The woman was bored and to Iruka that was both reassuring and worrying. It worried him because that generally meant she was looking for a distraction and a distraction was far more likely to involve pummelling a random person into the ground for a possibly imagined slight with her than with any other member of the squad. The good news of course was that if she was bored now, she hadn't done that an hour ago. Which meant Iruka was not likely to receive a complaint about her in another hour or so.

The fourth member of the little family was Honoka, a third generation Uzumaki. Like most of her generation, Honoka was a silent and subdued woman who if it wasn't for the far more wild and forceful personalities of her sisters would have kept herself far from any trouble. Even now, Honoka seemed to instinctively move herself behind one of her siblings and kept the woman between her and the man. Iruka hadn't ever known her differently and it made him sincerely wonder about what had happened in her past. He wasn't certain whether that involved Tuwan or his predecessor or for the matter whether he really wanted to know. However he could perfectly understand why the Uzumaki were careful when it involved her. It was one of the first things he had realised during his interactions: keep away from Honoka! Uzumaki were predators by nature and they took it badly whenever it seemed as if someone was seizing the weakest member of their pack up.

Despite being the weakest link of the chain, there existed no such thing like a harmless Uzumaki. Honoka might prefer to hide behind her sisters, when the chips came down, she showed herself no less ruthless or dangerous than the other members of her squad. Iruka had seen her action, Honoka was a reliable shot with a blaster canon and at more than one occasion she had sliced her way into a system whilst rebels desperately tried to stop her with every weapon that they had at their disposal. This was all the more impressive since at one occasion this had involved Honoka hiding in a trench whilst several pieces of minor artillery tried to kill her. It was sufficient to say that they failed and the other Uzumaki expressed their opinion about them trying to kill their sister thoroughly in return. It was an impressive lesson in human and alien anatomy, as well as non-verbal communication.

Naruko was the fourth Uzumaki.

The fifth member of the squad was named Karin, she was a member of the fourth generation like Naruko and Kurama. Iruka had found Karin to be... extremely difficult. This could easily be translated as Karin being the least likable member of the team. Whilst most member were loud and often voiced their opinion harshly, none of them was as verbally violent and critical as her. Furthermore her temper seemed no less fluctuating than the climate of Uzu which made her switch moods for seemingly nonsensical reasons at the drop of a hat.

These traits made it seem rather surprising that it was Karin of all people who served as the Uzumaki's field medic, however it was far less surprising that Karin combined these skills with an interest into biological and chemical warfare which made every non-Uzumaki wary of being treated by her. In the field, the woman generally served with a carbine like the other members of the fourth generation although Iruka had heard of at least one occasion during which she utilized an incinator. It was unsurprising that she gained a nickname as hothead.

Still as it was now, she sat opposite of Kushina upon the bed and seemed only mildly frustrated by the odds of winning their game.

Like the other members, she had a hairstyle which was unique in the squad. Hers was short and spiky on one side of her head, whilst it was longer and straight on the other.

The last and youngest member of the group was named Kurama. Unlike the other members of the team, Kurama had imitated Naruko's twin ponytails which made her seem even more alike her older sister than the other females. Despite this obvious imitation, she still lacked Naruko's chosen colour and facial scars though.

Whilst Kurama was not as vocal in her thoughts (and often her dislike) as Karin, she was most likely the most cynical and disdainful of the six. However again unlike Karin, Kurama was easily the most affectionate towards her family, something which was mostly focused upon her team leader who happily returned said affections at every opportunity.

It was telling that the moment Naruko had stepped back into the woman's reach, the Storm Commando wrapped both her arms around her team leader's middle and pulled her down upon the bed with her.

Naruko herself did not mind the attack though, instead she showed Kurama a bright smile and brushed one hand gently through the woman's strands of red hair.

Iruka noticed that each of the women wore the black uniform of a TIE-pilot, one of the women's many duties, although none of them wore the boots, life-support chest piece or the helmet.

"So what brings you to us, Iruka?" Naruko asked the ensign whilst leaning back into Kurama's embrace. "I don't belief we have done anything you could've found out about."

The Uzumaki smirked and leaned a bit deeper into Kurama's embrace before adding with the typical Uzumaki-smile, "yet".

Iruka sighed, just like so often he had no idea whether the women actually had done something or whether Naruko was merely attempting to rattle his chains.

This reaction actually did prompt a noticeable smirk from the other Uzumaki.

Iruka rolled his eyes, it should be easier to tell the difference between a group of women who had just committed the crime of the century and the same group of women who had spend the past days into their room playing games and braiding each other's hair. It should, but it most definitely wasn't and they were perfectly aware of that as well.

Rather than partaking in their mental games, Iruka decided to ignore the obvious bait and focus upon the more important target.

"The admiral requires your squad's participation in the first wave of TIE's." He said, making it a point not to make it seem like an order. "You're allowed to form the right flank."

To Iruka's surprise this did attract their attention and not the good kind.

"So we're no longer a part from the coffin jockeys." Naruko replied with some obvious contempt in her voice, whilst employing the Imperial slang for the average TIE-pilot.

Naruko chuckled, "I guess they need their Tans again. What happened? Did the brass find something more dangerous than a stain upon the window and do they need someone actually capable to get rid of it?"

Iruka sighed, it was not exactly hard to realise the latest cause of the Uzumaki's annoyance. One of the other officers had removed them from their customary spot at the head of the right flank, a spot which had always been considered as the most prestigious one and often gave the most opportunities for adding kills to your name.

In the defense of the Uzumaki, getting removed from there and being put back only just before a battle between capital ships was only one word short from being an actual insult and the openly expressed wish for them to die.

Still even so, giving themselves the title/ rank of Tan, even if each of them had deserved it at least dozen times over was another serious offence. After all, only born humans were allowed to use said title. Iruka ignored said offence though, especially since it was quite frankly one the tamest in a long list. Instead he decided to do what (he suspected) had made him rather liked by the six.

"Who's the officer that had you removed?" He asked.

Nurko raised a single eyebrow up in return.

"Captain...Asuma...Sarutobi." She replied.

Iruka swore, not loud and not even exceptionally severe, but he did.

"I'll mention it to the admiral." He said, although even he knew it would be ineffectual.

Whilst generally a fair and honourable man, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a penchant to do what was good for the greater group and not the minor parts. Considering the Uzumaki's seclusion from this greater group this meant that his judgment was only rarely in their favour.

Furthermore Iruka had heard of Asuma's suggestion to insert a rotation of certain positions in the battle line, at the time he had even applauded the idea. It was after all a reasonable one that was meant to improve the camaraderie and diminish the worst of the rivalry between the different squadrons. Simultaneously this would have granted the other squadrons a better chance to earn kills and would give the more worn down squadrons a reprieve.

All of these were very good reasons, of course to a group as the Uzumaki, who were already subjected to isolation and distrust, it was no less than an insult, doubly so since it was hard to believe that it indeed was coincidence they were now taken from their rather safe spot and returned to their more prestigious but far more dangerous position.

Iruka raised his arms in surrender. "If you fight well the admiral might change his mind about the arrangement."

The way Naruko stared back at him made it perfectly clear how much of a long shot that was and Iruka could not blame her.

Iruka sighed. "As much as I am willing to support you in this, you know you still will have to go out and fight them."

Naruko glared back at him and slammed a single hand down upon the mattress which prompted a disappointed moan of Kurama now that her blond team-leader had removed her hand from her own crimson haired head.

"You think I don't know!" Naruko spat. "I know I can't ignore his order and take on the entire ship if I refuse. I don't care whether or not I have to cut my way through some pirates, Rebels, Republicans or whatever they're calling themselves at the moment! It is the fact that I have to do so just for a chance to regain what never should have been taken from me and my sisters that angers me!

Iruka showed a small smile. "Then I pity the opposition."

Naruko's expression was cold and retained a hint of a potential threat. "Don't, instead pity the poor bastards who cross our path if the enemy fails to exhaust us enough."

She turned her head to her sisters and clapped her hands twice. "In the black, sisters. We will start this murder time."

The other Uzumaki nodded, whilst reaching for boots or other parts of their equipment. Iruka on the other hand turned around and made his way towards the bridge. He did not doubt that the Uzumaki would be doing their jobs. He had to do his part of the job and uphold a promise.

* * *

Iruka had only just started the first checkups from his computer when the admiral appeared behind him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was an old man, a scarred and grizzled veteran who had partaken in the Clone Wars and only he knew how many other wars, conflicts and "interventions to guard the safety of the galaxy, Republic or Empire". He was a man who had seen horrors and cruelty, and who despised such activity. Whilst this ought to have made him an enemy of the Empire in the eyes of many staunch Republicans and rebels, he saw it differently. Hiruzen was a man who had lived through the waning days of the Republic, he had seen it's corruption, it's inefficiency, seen rules fall short because they were contradictory to other rules or because their creators simply lacked the strength or willingness to carry them out.

He knew the Empire was not perfect, far from it in fact. But he after the chaos and disorder in the twilight days of the Republic, he believed the Empire's corruption, strictness and occasional cruelty was better than the republic's weakness. It was not something which most of the Republicans were willing to accept, but the Republic had been dying due to a rot that had begun long before his birth. If it wasn't due to the Emperor, something or someone else would have dealt it the finishing blow in time.

He could admire some of the rebels and Republicans for their ideals certainly, but it takes ideals and two credits to buy a bread like the saying goes. For all the Republican's propaganda it was far more difficult to see a difference between a brigand, smuggler, slicer or space pirate and a rebel than it ought to have been. Something both caused by the way many rebels gathered their credits as well the fact that many of these first mentioned groups ascribed their actions to the rebellion in the hope of a better prize, greater recognition or more support. It wasn't helped either by the fact that the majority of the recruits for the Rebellion came from these lower regions of the society.

This had never been more obvious than now when the young Republic was forced to choose which groups of rebels to recognize as a member of their Republic and which to shun.

The sad thing was that despite their obvious reverence for the past, they were blind for it. The same names as before the fall reappeared as the members from their senate, the same rules were established, the same politics enacted.

Sarutobi sighed and removed himself from his memories of the past.

Instead he placed a single hand upon the ensign shoulder whilst using the other hand to gently pull at his own goatee.

"I heard the Uzumaki are on their way to the hangars." He told the young man, before smiling at him. "Well done."

Iruka nodded. "They are." He said before pointing his gaze upon the old admiral. "They're not happy though."

"Why is that?" The head of the Sarutobi asked him.

"They believe they are being humiliated by taking part in a rotation for the position at the first line of the right flank." Iruka replied. Then the young man paused for a few moments.

"They 're especially angered since they are prematurely returned in the face of opposition." Iruka admitted.

The admiral nodded and stayed silent for a few moments.

"Did you knew I was the one who ordered their return to the first line?" Hiruzen asked them.

Iruka likewise paused for a moment, then he replied, "I did not." with a soft voice.

Hiruzen nodded in return. "I doubt you'd believe I am trying to get them killed." He told the ensign. "However putting any other squadron from their rotation in the first line would get those pilots killed." He continued. "The Uzumaki are easily amongst the bests of our pilots."

Iruka nodded. "With all respect, sir." He said whilst trying to keep an even voice. "I suggest you tell them as well and to be very public about it."

Hiruzen showed a small smile. "They're still as obnoxiously rebellious as ever, is it not?"

Iruka's lips formed into a similar smile. "If it wasn't for the status which was given to them by the Emperor and their own track record, they would have been executed for being a bad influence a long time ago."

"It would be a bad idea to shoot or ground the best aces and commandos from our force just for being reckless rebels is it?" Hiruzen continued and for a moment Iruka seemed to see a hint of amusement at his mention of the Uzumaki being rebels.

Then he sighed. "Tell me, Iruka, what are the odds of actually making the Uzumaki a proper part of the fleet?"

Iruka lowered his head for a moment, understanding precisely what it was that the admiral was asking.

"Honestly, sir..." he began, "I doubt it will happen. The Uzumaki will see every attempt to set them upon an equal footing with the other pilots and troopers as an insult or worse, furthermore they have absolutely no interest in mingling or even interacting with almost everyone one else."

"In their defense," Iruka continued after a short pause. "It is not as if the obstinacy comes solely from their side. Distrust, distaste or even outright hate are the most commonly shown reactions upon their presence outside of their own teams."

Hiruzen sighed. "I see," he muttered. "I'll ponder about after the actual battle."

Iruka nodded and placed his headset back upon his head whilst continuing with the check up from his instruments.

It was a little over a minute later that he heard Naruko's cheerful voice over the com.

"Hey teach," she yelled with an obnoxiously loud voice which made Iruka fight against the urge to rip his headset off and throw it as far away as possible. "How's everything hanging?"

In return Iruka began to turn the volume of his headset down.

"Everything is fine, Kyuubi nine alpha." The ensign replied. "The scanners of the probe have picked up the first sign of the incoming pirates. Another twenty-three seconds remain until the gravity well generators are active.

* * *

Naruko gave another obnoxiously loud cheer when she felt the clamps which held her Interceptor in place release her ship.

Next to her, her "panelwoman" Kurama followed her example and was likewise cheering in the comlink.

Both ships were flying side by side at a slow speed, beneath them, in the hanger of the Destroyer they saw several smaller crafts with pilots or parts move around to whatever ship they had been intended to. Furthermore there were numerous Storm Troopers present who were stacking up small, square containers and turned said positions into strategically placed barricades, gunner posts or even a bunker. Lastly, several bipedal walkers had been positioned in the hangar bay at such spots which would allow them to take down a ship which attempted to disembark a boarding party or failing that, to mow it's crew down. Not that it was likely that these rebels or pirates, whatever they actually were, would gain access to the hanger bay.

At the floor of the imperial bay stood a single member of the navy with a pair of red glowsticks. The man kept them up for a few moment whilst waving them erratically, signalling the refusal to let them pass for now.

Naruko was momentarily distracted when a small red light upon her control panel faded out and its neighbour lit up green.

"Flight control, laser-canons have been activated." Naruko reported to Iruka, "permission to leave the hangar?"

Iruka waited for a second, then Naruko noticed the red sticks turning green and the traffic controller's ensuing signal to take off.

"Both you and your panel mate have been cleared to set out, Kyuubi nine alpha. Happy hunting."

Both TIE -Interceptors set off instantly into space.

Naruko took a long look at the "battlefield", then she smirked.

The major ships had positioned themselves at what her computer had deemed the west of the battlefield and had virtually locked that direction off for anything which was both slower than X-wing and less durable than a battle cruiser. Furthermore there was a ring of asteroids from a rather impressive size to the east and northeast. These would turn every attempt to escape in that direction in a suicide run for everything.

Lastly, if she read her computer correctly, the pirate/Rebel fleet was supposed to turn up from the northern direction.

"Flight control, do you receive me?" Naruko asked over the intercom whilst simultaneously adding her sisters in.

"We will set off in the northern direction alongside the edge of the asteroid field to take a flanking position."

"Permission granted," Iruka replied, before pausing for another few seconds. "Intended course added to the map. No risk upon friendly fire from the major ships is expected, proceed as intended!"

Naruko nodded, momentarily forgetting that he was unable to see her and then added. "Understood, proceeding in a moment."

Naruko sped up slightly and then noticed Kurama had maintained her position next to, the other four TIE's however had formed up behind them which turned their initial, outstretched wedge into a much thinner column which due to the proximity of the asteroids was bound to disappear from the radar.

* * *

Back at the bridge, Iruka looked back up whilst rubbing his hand through the hair underneath the headphone.

Hiruzen had taken his position at the head of the heightened walkway in the centre of the bridge.

Around him, he heard each of the responsible officers confirm the position or intended position from the squadron for which he or she was responsible. Others mentioned the state of the ship's armament and shields. Everything was working like a clockwork, the result of the discipline of the Empire.

He saw the old admiral light his pipe, before ordering the charging of the turbolasers in preparation of the rebel's arrival. These massive guns could easily evaporate most smaller ships with a single shot, however they were slow to aim and even slower to fire. Pre-charging and letting them cool down again would allow the Imperials at the very least a single shot which in the best case scenario would be unopposed by all but the absolute minimum of shields. This was especially advantageous because it was unlikely that the rebels would be able to get their shields up at full power for another three minutes. However by then the rebels would have been able to get some shots off from their own turbolasers in return.

The main disadvantage of this tactic however was that it was extremely taxing for the cooling systems of said guns.

Although far less impressive than these massive weapons, upon the lower decks there were numerous smaller and medium-typed guns which were getting prepared to show the rebels the full might of the imperial navy. Whilst not as powerful as said earlier mentioned guns, each was still perfectly capable of disabling a smaller, unprotected ship with a single shot.

"Sir," one of the younger ensigns announced. "the enemy is about to arrive from hyperspace in less than a minute."

Hiruzen nodded to himself, then the man muttered. "Send word to the gunners to start the preparations for the final calibrations of their weapons."

"I want every shot to find its mark before their shield are up." He continued before placing his pipe in his mouth.

Iruka pressed his microphone against his cheek.

"Alpha, make certain you're in position, the enemy is about to arrive."

* * *

Back into space, the six Uzumaki had raced past the majority of the asteroids before Naruko had spotted a small gap in the edge of the ring. She slowed her ship instantly down and dove into the gap where she stopped, hiding it amongst the debris.

The other Uzumaki followed suit whilst holding on to radio silence. It was another one of those numerous rule breaking initiatives which made the Uzumaki such a pest to whoever happened to be their handler.

In front of them the enemy fleet appeared from hyperspace. Even knowing that nobody heard her, Naruko gave an admiring whistle that mostly faded in the noise of the oxygen tubes of her life support system's constant hissing.

Naruko counted at least eight capital ships although each of them was smaller than the Empire's six capital ships and a hell of lot of space fighter ships.

Curiously however, three of those were seemingly barely adjusted Munificent-class frigates. These were skeleton-looking battle ships which dated back to the clone-wars. During those days the ships had been deployed by the Separatists.

Naruko had seen those ships before, they were especially common in the hands of pirates nowadays but generally only after extensive modifications. Seeing them possibly unmodified, was strange, almost as if she had been thrown back several decades to the waning days of the Galactic Republic.

Still, curious as it might be, as it was now it was little more than a minor distraction before contemplating her actual problems. Those problems were the fighters. As far Naruko could see most of them were flying around the capital ships without an obvious formation. Naruko waited for now, whilst this lack of a formation would have allowed even a single pair of TIE fighters to pick some of them off without a chance of running into proper resistance, it would bring them far too close to the capital ships to feel comfortable. Furthermore, the rest of the fighters would most likely simply reform at the other side of the ships in return.

Therefore Naruko controlled her impulse to give the order to attack for now.

Instead she observed the madness which erupted in return to the discovery of the Empire's presence.

The majority of the fighters shot forwards in an attempt to form a screen between the two parties whilst simultaneously trying to stay in the blind spots of both fleets' batteries. Two of their fighters were unlucky though.

The rebels met the TIE fighters just before halfway and despite their shields suffered rather badly in the initial seconds due to the far better angles and order from the Imperial pilots. However once the initial damage was done, this advantage was mostly lost and it was then that the actual dogfight began, however once again the Empire retained an edge due to their superior numbers.

Observing the chaos Naruko smirked and broke the radio silence.

It was a single sentence which reached six pairs of ears. "Get them."

Then six sets of ion-engines came to life and shot off in the distance.

A first wave of rebel reinforcements which had only just departed from the capital ships was caught unaware and from behind. They were destroyed and overtaken without even slowing the six Uzumaki down. All it required was a minor course change to evade the debris. Then they had reached the main confrontation between the fighters and positioned themselves to shear past the rear of the battle, which had them add another number of distracted and to them vulnerable ships to their tally.

It was that point that the rebels tried to stop the six.

Iruka, who due to his post at the bridge of the Destroyer, had access to far better scanners and was protected from nearby threats, had a far better view from the unfolding engagement and warned Naruko of their presence.

Naruko took a quick look at her scanner to confirm this and then broke her earlier course off.

"Understood, control." She said, acknowledging the flight controller. "We'll take care of them. Should be easy after this little warm up. Any news about bombers?"

"Negative." Iruka said whilst keeping his eyes glued to the stream of information upon his screen. "Only fighters and snubs, however a first line has been hacked by our slicers and this mentioned Vulture droids."

Naruko nodded. "Understood, command. No visual of them thus far, though."

After those words Naruko pushed the handle up to send another wave of power to her engine.

"Mito, Honoka," she ordered, "Break off from your current flight path and head off into the direction of the mess back there, I'll be sending you my intended flight plan. Use it to utilise a sabre upon our ..."At that pointed Naruko curled her lips and snorted momentarily... "brave aces."

Said "brave aces" were much too far to intervene during the Uzumaki's manoeuvre, let alone that they could utilise the moment of vulnerability during their turn around.

"Here they come, Naruko!" Kurama warned her whilst creating a bit more distance between the two TIE's which allowed them some more space to manoeuvre.

"Don't allow them to lock on, girls." Naruko yelled at her remaining three companions.

Then the game had begun.

Unfortunately for the two pairs of fighters, these pursuers were both tenacious and focused. They followed closely, constantly adapting their speed and always making certain that at least one fighter was above or underneath the others so that its missiles would have an undisturbed path if one of the Uzumaki tried to manoeuvre away from the pack.

Naruko swore softly. She disliked this, especially so since it left the initiative almost entirely to their chasers. However time was on their side, especially since the four had almost completed the wide turn which was leading them back to the cluster of battling fighters.

"Come on, a bit more!" She whispered as if trying to encourage her own fighter or enticing their stalkers to miss. And indeed most of their blasts had missed thus far, only Kushina's ship had suffered some superficial damage.

"You ready, Mito?" Naruko asked her second in command. As if in reply to that question, that was the moment when a first fighter exploded. One of it's companions was too close to evade it's remains in time and slammed straight into the burning debris. The ship only survived by grace of it's shields. A moment later that ship was hit by another shot from a TIE-interceptor.

"I bet that one thought he was lucky." Mito remarked with some humour in her voice.

Naruko sniggered in return. Another of their pursuers went down in a maelstrom of fire and debris.

Recognizing an ambush after they flew directly into one, the remaining fighters turned away from the two Interceptors who had come to their sisters' aid. However even that wasn't enough to save the fourth of the pursuers.

"Our Aces are down, Iruka." Naruko reported whilst once again shearing past the edges of the battle. Another small number of enemy fighters was added to the Sisters' tally.

"What is the current situation?" Naruko continued.

She heard Iruka breath out audibly.

"Aww, were you worried about us?" Naruko asked with some obvious entertainment in her voice which in reality hid that she felt some appreciation for his concern.

Iruka ignored the question, already knowing he wouldn't be winning whatever he said in return.

Instead he focused upon the actual situation. "Both the engagement between the capital ships and the fighters are developing in our favour. However, the rebels seem to be growing desperate and have decided to send a number of bombers out. There is only a limited number of escorts, mostly snubs. Take them out!"

"With pleasure!" Naruko replied before pointing her Interceptor in the direction of the ships.

"All right, girls. You heard the man." Naruko said. "Let's show those idiots why you never ever let a Non-Uzumaki do an Uzumaki's job."

The roar of six engines was the only answer worth mentioning.

The bombers knew what was coming and allowed their escort to meet their assailants whilst setting course for the Empire's ships with the single minded determination which had been so characteristic for both sides during the course of the Civil War.

Unfortunately for their escort, this also meant these X-wings were sacrificed for a chance to bomb the ships of the Empire.

If they were aware of the Kyuubi Ninth's actions earlier Naruko suspected she could not blame them for being desperate.

Still, she suspected the pilots of the X-wings would be sporting another opinion as they saw the six TIE Interceptors coming for them.

Six of them against the four of the Rebels, Naruko knew there was no need for risks, all she had to do was set a course and trust upon her subordinates to take a proper position and then it was over for the rebel pilots.

It was ironic, but the rebels had derogatory called the standard TIEs "eyeballs" due to their shape and the TIE interceptors they had dismissed as "Squints". Now literally staring in the eyes of death, the X-wing pilots blinked and died.

After that Uzumaki chased after their initial targets. In an attempt to keep themselves safe from the Uzumaki's guns, these bombers flew close together and extend the coverage of their shields which therefore presented multiple layers of protection instead of the usual single one.

It worked, at first. However once the shields began to fail under the continuous onslaught of missiles and lasers, their numbers dwindled rapidly until the Uzumaki broke off again, relying upon the smaller guns of the capital ships to finish off what they started.

* * *

"Those things are lit almost as easy as my matches." Joked Naruko before she heard Iruka clear his throat through her com.

"The first of their major ships is going down," Iruka told her, "but they might be able to mangle the gravity well if they can keep the current level of fire up."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Naruko asked with some disdain in her voice whilst mentally comparing her own little Interceptor with the massive capital ships.

"A number of our bombers is about to take off, escort them and give them a chance to bring the worst of the enemy's defence down. Once that is done, boarding crews will be sent out to take the ships or otherwise they will be destroyed by our Ion-canons.

"We're getting low on power and concentration." Protested Naruko. "We've been weaving in and out of combat for nearly half an hour."

"We have another squadrons of Interceptors ready to replace you." Iruka admitted. "Finish this last job and you can have your rest whilst watching your ships getting refuelled."

Naruko sighed. "Understood command," before adding. "You better be getting us a posting at the embassy on Zeltros after this."

Iruka chuckled in return. "I'd steer this entire ship upon my own to get you to that posting since as your handler, I'd be going with you."

Naruko smirked after that.

She stopped smirking once she saw the TIE bombers which arrived from one of the nearby Destroyers. Bombers were at the bottom of the scale of TIEs in regard of their speed and agility, however that was usually offset by their sturdier design and the far greater variety of weapons which they could deploy. The way these ships were shaking during their flight and had their course almost continually adjusted made one thing absolutely clear, they were crewed by an awfully inexperienced crew.

"Iruka?" Naruka asked with a sweet but very soft voice. "Are you hearing me?"

Iruka, who had experienced Naruko's temper before, reacted instinctively. He removed the headphones from his head. He was just in time to escape a temporary deafness when the leader of the Storm Commandos screamed his name and (what kind of ass he was) at the top of her lungs.

After that the Uzumaki aimed their ships at the nearest of the former confederacy's ships.

Several of the bombers got picked off by the guns of the capital ship and a single ship was shot down due an incoming fighter who would never get chance to brag about his kill.

Despite these losses, the battle seemed to go well for pilots of the Empire.

However it was at that moment, when the Uzumaki's were about to turn around and head back to ship that fate decided to intervene.

One moment, the women's attention was torn between weaving through the shots of the minor guns and talking, the next a loud crackle over the intercom signified that one of them had fallen away.

"Kurama? Mito? Kushina? Honoka? Karin?" Naruko yelled out over the intercom with an obvious terror in her voice.

Four times she heard a "present" in return, one stayed silent. The remaining Uzumaki slowed down instantly and turned around again. Behind them there were the rapidly extinguishing flames upon the remains of an Interceptor.

"Honoka?" repeated Naruko softly, then she bit down. Riding upon a wave of burning rage and hate, she pointed her fighter at enemy capital ship. "Send them down in a pyre!" She growled.

The five fighters had only just left with roaring engines when they heard the sound.

"Naru...Mito...rin..."

The five fighters stopped as rapidly as they had started.

"Honoka?" Naruko yelled over the intercom, her voice was flush with hope and relief. "Where are you?"

The connection was poor, very poor even but it was there none the less although it did not sound as if Honoka was receiving them as well.

"...Ejection..eat...cold...waiting...above..."

It took Naruko less then a second to understand what the woman was trying to tell them through the intercom in her helmet. Honoka had been able to use her ejection seat to escape the crash but was now slowly getting frozen due to the temperature of space. Those life-support suits were good, but despite that they had never been intended to be directly exposed to the rigors of vacuum and several hundred degrees below zero for a prolonged time.

"Mito, find her and take her in!" Naruko ordered her second in command. "She's somewhere below us, most likely a hundred or two hundred meters away. Kushina and Karin guard and help her! Kurama is with me!"

"What are we going to do?" Kurama asked her without so much a hint of defiance in her voice.

"Stop those assholes from taking pot-shots at them."

Three fighters had noticed the suddenly much slower flying ships and had aimed their vehicles at them, probably expecting to add an easy victory over an almost incapacitated enemy to their name. The war was cruel and there was no such thing as universal, neutral assistance organisation, all there was, was chance and misfortune.

One went instantly down when it failed to react in time upon Naruko's transition from worried sister to furious Storm Commando leader, the second was shot down by Kurama who held nothing but disdain for someone who only dared to attempt killing them whilst they were searching for their sister. The third shot past the burning debris and was in return destroyed by Kushina who was no less eager to defend her sisters.

After that short exchange both sisters shot straight at the capital ship and began to strafe it relentlessly. The attacks from their twin laser canons made little impact in comparison to the bombers far heavier loads but they were a constant annoyance which distracted the gunners and who made them waste numerous shots which otherwise could have made an impact upon the bombers or (to them far more importantly) upon their helpless sisters who had kept looking for Honoka.

Back at the bridge of the Destroyer, Iruka was desperately trying to hide the actions of the Uzumaki from the other officers. Just by breaking off their return to the hangar, Naruko had already earned herself several court martials and she would have earned even more by her semi-suicidal attack upon the formerly separatist ship. The imperial ethos was such that orders and the mission went before everything else, that included saving your squad mates. Off course Hiruzen tended to show a far greater understanding to infractions against this last rule, still it did not mean that the rule wasn't there.

After all using an ignored, but still official rule was an old trick in the army to deal with rivals or threats when the fairer or more acceptable measures failed to do so. Let it be sufficient to say that each of the Uzumaki had enough dirt upon herself in that regard to camouflage most minor ships.

* * *

Both sisters kept chasing up and down the side of the ship when they finally received the long awaited message which allowed them to a breath of relief.

"Hey, boss-lady. This is Mito, Honoka is sitting in my lap. What are your orders?"

Naruko paused for a single moment, then she checked her power supply.

"Me and Kurama are almost down on power." She paused for a moment. "I have maybe one or two shots before my weapons will be refusing."

"Set course for the main hangar of the nearest Munificent-class frigate," Naruko ordered. "Let's take that bitch down."

"You can't be serious!" interjected Iruka with a shocked sounding voice. "you can't sincerely consider taking over a frigate with the six of you."

"Why not?" Naruko asked with a sincerely surprised sounding voice. "Unmodified these don't require a crew of more than two hundred beings which are split over something of a fifty square miles in different levels of the ship."

"You have no idea whether they truly are unmodified and even if they aren't, those numbers are only correct because they carried thousands of droids on top of that." Iruka yelled back.

"I hear you Iruka and I respect your opinion, but as the leader of these commando's I use my rank to ignore it." Naruko replied. "So unless you find someone with the necessary rank to force me to obey within the next minute, that's what we'll be doing."

Iruka sat there for a moment, then he aimed his words at the other Uzumaki.

"Is there anyone of you who..." He began before an obviously faked crackling over the intercom cut him off.

"Sorry ...krrch...Can't...krrrch...read...krrch...annoying...Krrch...officer...eat...krrch...dirt...krrch." replied Kurama.

"I can tell that was faked." Iruka deadpanned.

None of the other Uzumaki bothered to intervene although at least one of them (Iruka suspected Kushina) was giggling audibly over the intercom.

* * *

Naruko shot what was most likely her last blast at one of the nearby canons without bothering to watch it's (minimal) effect. Instead the woman removed a rather short, curved dagger from the scabbard which she had strapped to the lower part of her left leg and began cutting through the belts of her harness. The characteristic hum of the weapon betrayed it's nature as a vibroblade and the steel went through the otherwise tough plastic as if it was warm butter.

Then she reached for the small detonator which she had taped to the side of her ship.

"Sorry, old gal." Naruko whispered with a hint of actual regret in her voice. "You were a great girl, but it is you or me ... and let's face it, we both knew it wouldn't be me."

The twin ion engines which powered the star fighter were notoriously easy to sabotage. All it took to turn the weapon into a time bomb was the removal of a single energizer from the TIE's recharge systems. It was a trick which the terrorists had used plenty of times to kill pilots, to cover their escape or to attack a base. Naruko had found out about that trick years ago and she had liked the idea of using it against it's creators. It had been incredibly easy to add a small explosive to such an energizer.

She pushed the button down. There was no sound of an explosion, but there had been no need for a load which was heavy enough to be heard over the noise of a space battle. 15 seconds!

Instead she quickly programmed the final course of her ship and placed her boots upon the chair whilst reaching for the top to unseal the lid of her TIE. 10 seconds!

She slipped through the small opening and felt the cold of space before the ship went through the gravity shield of the hangar and she felt the slightly lesser cold of said hangar.

3 seconds!

There was no need to jump for Naruko, just the speed with which a fighter flew even at a lower gear was enough to slam her against the edge of the opening with enough force to leave a mark which her body would have to remember for a long time if it wasn't for her Firrerreo-genes.

She was thrown from her ship the moment before she even had fully escaped it upon her own strength.

There was no elegant jump like she had imagined, instead it was a mere fall. A fall which was deep, heavy and most of all painful. Another marking which would haunt her body for the next hours and days.

Uzumaki healed fast and good, this in no way translated into a willingness to actually receive such injuries.

Nor did it make her immune for the temporary confusion after such an impact. Fortunately for her, none of the present rebels had expected to see a TIE fly through the shield into the hangar, let alone that they would have expected to see the pilot jump out of the ship without stopping first.

The hangar of the Munificent-class frigate was not as big as someone would have initially suspected. This was mostly due to the ship's original purpose as a battleship and occasionally troop-transport.

Still, despite that there still were over forty fighters and other small ships placed in the hangar as well as some guards, engineers and a few pilots in the case that they were called out to join into the battle.

In other words there were plenty of volatile, but fragile obstacles to stop Naruko's ship and none of the defences or the proper cover which would have been prepared if the cruiser had been anticipating combat.

Naruko raised herself up on one knee, absent-mindedly noting that whilst a lot was hurting, nothing seemed broken and reached for her pistol. She had been forced to abandon her carbine in her ship due to the risk of something snagging and slowing her down.

Before she had even pointed the weapon at a first rebel, her ship exploded in a blaze of red flames.

Another pair of ships accompanied it on it's trip to wherever ships go when they got destroyed and created a veritable shower of shards and fragments which struck several of the nearby rebels.

Naruko did not escape the rain of shrapnel either, but the heavy suit protected her not only from the cold. The same could not be said about most soldiers or engineers who enjoyed no protection except for what little that was provided by the much thinner cloth of their overalls and "uniforms".

Said men and women screamed in pain and shock when they felt the numerous pieces of glass, metal and plastic enter their bodies.

Naruko on the other hand wasted no time with needless panicking or worrying about pain and aimed her pistol.

Two armed rebel troopers were mowed down instantly and were immediately followed by the third, an engineer who had reached for her own pistol.

Standing in the open, Naruko had no protection except for the confusion of her possible assailants and the lack of marksmanship from a few of them, thus the woman raced forward whilst pointing her weapon upon the thickest cluster of pirates and dropped another a few shots.

As a commando Naruko was a far better shot than the rebels and her blasts were both fast and accurate which felled another three Rebels in mere moments.

She paid for her attack with a first shot which burned her hip, the worst of the damage however was damped by the imperial armour.

The shooter seemed little more than a teenager, the type of rebel for who she had coined the expression "Mommy's little hero". She had met and killed plenty of those before. They were invariably young and idealistic, usually handsome and tended to be far better shots than most other rebels.

He showed all the signs of said category, even down to the classical posture whilst shooting. He had probably practiced for years by shooting in clubs and in competitions. The kind of poster boy for the rebellion.

There was only problem, shooting at cardboard targets is not the same as shooting at humans, even if you practiced at human-shaped targets. He might have shot her hip, he had missed his intended target. Naruko did not.

Another rebel, a Rhodian, charged forward whilst a third dropped upon one knee and aimed a carbine at her.

Naruko had a single second to notice the wrench in the second rebel's hand.

The third rebel died when the blast tore through his face. The amphibian looking rebel raised the wrench high above his head in preparation for a hit which would split her skull like a grape, helmet or no helmet.

Naruko threw one shoulder against the Rhodian and grasped his raised arm with her free hand. She could only hold him for little more than a single second, however that was all she needed to push her pistol in his stomach and to pull it's trigger.

The Rhodian dropped it's tool behind him with a loud clank and attempted to stumble backwards. What happened instead was Naruko grabbing his collar and forcing him against her, which turned the dying humanoid into a semi-human shield. Retaining her hold upon the dying being Naruko stepped forward towards the most nearby remains of a fallen transport vehicle, the closest thing to some half-decent cover which she could find within her vicinity.

"Kurama," Naruko muttered whilst pouring another blast in the direction of a pirate who would have threatened her cover if she successfully took said position. "The hangar is clear from everything above small arms, get your ass in here now!"

She sank upon her knees behind the cover whilst removing the now dead Rhodian with a nearly nonchalant push from her shoulder.

Three blasts struck her cover, another two went over it. She heard loudly yelled orders but nobody threw a grenade or anything. Thank whatever supernatural being who was watching over female clones for having not one of those idiots being stupid enough to carry an incendiary around so much volatile materials.

"Flank her, flank her!"

Naruko rolled her eyes. "Of course, at least some of those rebels had seen a bunch of holovids about war. Why else were they playing soldier?" She thought in herself whilst pointing her weapon in the direction of her latest victim.

A moment later the first of said war-specialists appeared in her sight. He died and taught his comrades a valuable lesson which most holo-vids had omitted: flanking is only good if it comes with the advantages of surprise or cover for yourself. Without either it was about as useful as pinning a target upon your back and taking a jog to the other end of a shooting range.

If these rebels would have had some sense they would have focused their fire upon one part of the vehicle or they would have started to move some pieces of cover for a better firing position, if they were willing to use overkill, they could have manned one of their ships and used that against her.

Even a charge en masse would have easily overpowered her, however this would have allowed Naruko to extract a massive toll in blood and lives.

What they did instead was the worst option of all, they did basically nothing. Most of them simply sat behind cover and occasionally poured a shot in her direction before resuming his or her praying for something to make her go away.

No matter how brilliant they might have been behind the sticks of a ship or when working underneath it, most of them were utterly useless outside of this comfort zone.

There were only a few soldiers or marines there and they were not exactly the cream of the crop either. Still, considering there were at least another fourteen rebels against poor, lonely Naruko, these were not exactly good odds.

Another shot struck the vehicle.

Then she heard the familiar sound of a twin Ion-engine and smirked.

Kurama steered her ship into the hangar and made it hover upon a little over four feet above Naruko's cover. The rebels who had opposed Naruko stared for a single moment, then fuelled by their desperation they aimed their weapons at the "eye" of Kurama's ship.

Kurama opened fire in return. However what might only just burn through a fighter's hull, turned organic beings into scorch marks upon the walls and floor. The confrontation between Kurama and the rebels was a very short one.

Naruko smirked whilst she granted herself a momentarily reprieve by sinking against the tilted vehicle.

"Word of Naruko to command," she whispered whilst closing her eyes. "The hangar of the Munificent-class frigate has been taken over. Send some units of marines and preferably Storm Troopers to reinforce before the enemy returns."

* * *

It took another minute before the rest squad arrived.

Kurama had instantly positioned herself next to Naruko and kept her carbine aimed upon the open gate to the inside of the ship. Mito on the other hand had resting her sniper rifle upon the edge of the vehicle whilst she herself began building a small baricade. Kushina in the meanwhile was busy salvaging an automatic blaster from one of the troop carriers, whereas Karin had stripped Naruko from the top of her uniform and had started to treat the worst of her wounds.

There was nothing which couldn't be treated with some bacta, unfortunately none of that was available at the spot. So she was forced to use more primitive means to treat the numerous bruises, minor burns and strained muscles which Naruko had obtained.

The paste which Karin smeared upon Naruko's exposed skin was cold, sticky like mud and just as thick whilst it's scent made Naruko contemplate whether covering her skin with some actual dirt wouldn't have been preferable to her nose. The only ingredient which Naruko could identify with a bit of certainty was Kolto though and despite her desire to remove the filth she waited for Karin to finish.

Once the field medic was done, Karin reached for the bloodstained jacket from one of the slain rebels and threw that at Naruko's chest, "to stop the troopers from getting too many pleasant memories from an Uzumaki, when they arrived".

Next to the earlier mentioned gate to the inside of the ship sat Honoka who after climbing out of Mito's ship had found herself the victim of an enthusiastic embrace by Naruko and several kisses upon her cheeks. After said expression of her leader's relief, Honoka had thrown herself upon the most nearby computer and had started her slicing which resulted in the permanent disabling of a large number of doors and gates upon the ship as well as the certainty that there would be no awakening of droids except by local input. This activity had not gone unopposed by the slicers of the Rebellion, however it was far easier to break and disable, than it was to protect and safeguard.

Incidentally, Honoka had also succeeded in keeping the rebels from cutting the gravity and air supply to the hangar off.

It was most likely that attempt to vent them into space that had kept the rebels from launching an earlier assault to reconquer the area, however the metaphorical grains from the hourglass were dropping rapidly for this ship and there was no way it's occupants weren't aware of that.

Naruko guessed she had three more minutes at most before the first wave of rebels came flooding in to retake the hangar. Unfortunately, even a rather optimistic guess demanded twice that time before the first transport with troopers would arrive.

"You nearly done, Kushina?" Naruko asked the second generation clone whilst carefully pulling the jacket over her sensitive flesh.

Said Uzumaki raised a single arm in the air and then proceeded to kick some part of the destroyed transport like a maniac. A moment later, Kushina raised a heavy-looking repeating blaster triumphantly in the air.

"The bitch drove a hard bargain but I had the better arguments." Kushina added over the com.

Naruko rolled her eyes before closing her new second-handed jacket. The jacket was rather small and due to the dark blotches from the blood and brain fluid of it's previous owner, it felt wet in a rather disgusting way. She really wished Karin hadn't decided to cut that much holes in her uniform to treat her.

The head of the Storm Commandos sighed and started to button the jacket before reaching for Kushina's carbine.

"I wonder what will come first?" Naruko asked whilst bending down upon one knee behind the improvised barricade which Mito and Kurama had set during the short wait.

"If they're intelligent something with a lot of firepower and some shields." Kurama muttered whilst positioning herself next Naruko.

"Most likely." Naruko admitted. " And what's the worst they might have upon a ship from the confederacy?"

Kurama nodded. "We should have kept Honoka from opening that many doors didn't we?" She asked.

"To late now, but those gas canisters by Honoka and Karin should do the trick." Naruko muttered.

"They've burned their way through one of the gate behind the corner." Honoka shouted from behind her terminal before disabling the computer with a few shots and sinking down behind her own barricade. "They're here in a second."

"Weapons ready, girls." Naruko shouted whilst pushing the wire-stock from her carbine against her shoulder and repressed a painful groan. "Things are about to heat up."

She heard an echoing sound as if something hollow and metallic was rolling over the floor and swore, loudly.

"Karin, Honoka keep behind your cover! Don't let them know you're there until they've entered the hangar."

"Okay/ understood." Came in reply from both women who had hidden themselves behind the barricades directly next to the gate.

"Kushina, Mito! Fire instantly and upon full power, no saving anything for later, just destroy them now!" Naruko called out to the women at the other main barricade who both nodded in return.

"Kurama," Naruko said, before rubbing her shoulder against said woman's, "be careful".

Then the first of the Destroyer-droids rolled into view and was destroyed before it could even deploy from it's wheel configuration. However the next did not roll that far and remained safely behind the corner whilst they rose up.

"And here they come." Muttered Naruko whilst the first shots struck their cover.

Mere carbines stood little chance against the heavy shields of a Droideka, Mito and Kushina were not that limited by their weapons though and worked together. One peppered the shield until it broke after which a single high powered shot from the sniper destroyed the droideka. However as impressive and useful such a collaboration might have been in the open, it was slow and woefully insufficient when compared to the greater numbers and far greater firepower of the droids.

Said droids were slowly moving forward whilst keeping a continuous fire upon the pair of barricades. Even with her head held down, Naruko couldn't help but hear the constant tapping of the droids' limbs and the characteristic sound of their blasters.

It was not the first time Naruko had seen droidekas, quite a few well off gang leaders, pirates, rebels and even some imperial high-officials had purchased said wardroids after the great de-activation at the end of the Clone Wars. She had even worked with them at a few occasions. It was however the first time that she was forced to stay so close whilst they fired upon her and kept creeping closer to her.

It was a far more frightening experience than she had anticipated and she felt like she owed some members of the 501th her apologies.

Naruko swore whilst leaning out of her cover and dropping another three shots upon the droidekas, before hiding behind the barricade again.

Three shots and she had felt two of the droideka's shots whistle past her in return. A fourth shot from her and she guessed she would have been killed.

Naruko swore again. She had attempted to count the droids whilst sneaking her shots in. There were eight droidekas and they were still too far off.

"Four more meters, girls" Naruko told her commandos over the intercom. "only four more meters."

She did not mention that the original distance from the corner had only been a little over eight meters.

"Don't stop," Naruko whispered half praying, "don't stop them whoever is in command of those rust buckets, they're not alive, but they are protected by shields so just send them forward for maximal damage and accuracy and forsake their safety. Be impatient, be very impatient!"

"Naruko," Mito warned her, "they're holding their position and are simply firing away."

"Emperor's black bones that we are!" Naruko swore with a loud voice whilst reaching for the container with tibanna gas behind her.

"Karin, Mito, action now!"

Both women obeyed her orders instantly.

Whilst in a perfect scenario Karin and Honoka would have thrown a container with tibanna gas into the gathering of droids without even leaving their cover, this was now impossible.

Instead Karin threw her casket with gas before the droids and shot it in the hope that the sudden wave of heat would disrupt their radiation sensors. Kushina and Kurama instantly utilised the distraction to pepper the approaching droids with their shots. Mito on the other hand scrambled to a third, unmanned barricade, however unlike the heavier, improvised barricades behind which she had hidden earlier, this one was far lighter. Light enough to be slowly pushed forward with human strength.

While that happened Naruko had grasped the container and thrown it at Mito. The heavy container fell upon it's side and then continued rolling at a slow speed until the Uzumaki clone stopped it with her boot and pushed it against her cover.

The oldest member of their unit growled softly due to her efforts whilst she kept pushing the cover forward towards the droids.

Behind her Naruko had added her own blasts to the shots which had successfully taken another droideka down.

"Three more feet," Mito thought, "two more feet, one more!"

She growled and dropped upon one knee whilst reaching with one hand for the canister.

"Girls, shoot it!" She snarled in her intercom before sending it in the droidekas direction. .

Not even a moment had passed after shouting that sentence before she threw herself against her cover.

Another explosion sounded through the hangar and the hallway which gave access to it.

This second explosion began in the hallway and most of the explosive power could only go two ways, to the hangar or through the hallway.

With the numerous tears in her flight suit and only a rebel's jacket for protection, Naruko felt the wave of hot air make it's way through the area, until it finally dissipated in the much colder air of the hangar behind her. The Droidekas and whatever livings being had come behind them were not as lucky as the clones though. Most of the droidekas were finished, only two examples remained in somewhat working order, but neither of these two had retained it's shield and whoever it was that had hidden themselves around the corner, they had screamed in pain.

Kushina finished the first of the droidekas off, Kurama and Naruko destroyed the second with several blasts from their own weapons.

Mito in the meanwhile was shaking her head in confusion, she felt rather lightheaded after the impact from her cover upon her head. Hiding behind a rather large, empty fuel container which was light enough to be pushed forward might not exactly be the best idea if you're moving that container to the epicentre of an explosion.

For a few seconds, Mito wondered why the others kept shooting at something behind her, then she remembered the enemy who had appeared earlier.

However unlike before, these blasts were far fewer in number and far less accurate too.

"Something alive," Mito guessed, "something afraid, angry or inexperienced. Possibly all three of it." A singular blast struck the container and Mito heart a soft crack, indicating that her cover wasn't going to hold out for much longer. She took a deep breath and then raced towards her earlier post, next to Kushina.

It took her two seconds, but she made it and careful to keep her head down, she reached for her rifle whilst pressing her back against the barricade.

Throughout her escape, she had heard Naruko's swearing over the intercom.

After catching her breath, she turned her head around and saw exactly why Naruko was swearing.

"Emperor's Black bones that we are!" Growled Mito.

Barabels and there were at least ten of the seven feet tall humanoids.

Off all the highly aggressive, territorial and coldblooded reptiles that could have crewed a frigate from the confederacy, it had to be a species with great reverence for the jedi.

Mito aimed her rifle and a moment later the first of the Barabels went down and stayed that way.

Barabels were tough, they could get shot by a light blaster and simply shrug it off without even slowing down. However, light is a word that is only rarely used when talking about a sniper rifle.

However tough as the Barabels were, there were two more words which were just as often used when describing their species. The first is aggressive, the second is reckless.

The scales of the Barabels weren't tough enough to endure either Mito's rifle, nor Kushina's repeating blaster.

This left the Barabels with two options, since they couldn't stay in the hallway unless they wanted to get picked off rapidly. They could choose between retreating or charge forward.

If they did the first, than the invading Storm Troopers would be forced to face them in the small hallways of the inner ship, if they didn't, they risked the last canister in Honoka's grasp.

They charged.

A third explosion rocked the ship at the entrance of the hangar.

None of the Barabels survived the explosion intact and worse for them, none of them recovered in time to survive the barrage of blasts which finished of the survivors.

It was at that point that they heard the sound of a Cygnus HD7 engine.

"Off course when the heat dies down," muttered Naruko contemptuous, "then they arrive with their shielded ships and heavy guns."

The first from over fifty troopers jumped from the ship before it had even touched down.

Naruko shook her head, "Right, lets finish the job!" She called whilst stretching her back.

"Mito grab some of those shiny new boys and take Honoka and Karin with you to the engines." Ordered Naruko, before adding, "You never know when one of those brave heroes decides that he's willing to take the ship down with us."

She pointed her face to Mito and Kuruma. "You two come with me, we'll grab ourselves some shinies of our own and make our way to the bridge. This has been going on for far too long."

* * *

Naruko slowly moved the wet rag over her bare arm to remove the worst of Karin's paste. The water felt cool, refreshing and more importantly it distracted her from the pain, even if it was only for a moment.

The battle was over and Naruko was back in her cabin.

The majority of the pirates, these would-be members of the Republic had died in the battle. Two of their ships had been able escape after the gravity well had been forced to shut down and three of them had been destroyed during the battle whilst the fourth would be getting dismantled by the Empire after they finished removing everything useful from within it's halls. The last two ships, both Munificent-classed frigates, had been taken into Imperial service. So were the droids on board of the ship, it was a shame for the Droidekas which they had destroyed earlier, but it couldn't but helped.

Naruko snorted at the memory of Hiruzen's words. "A shame" and "It couldn't be helped!" it was obvious to her who had faced them and who had been miles away, safe behind the shields of his Destroyer.

At least it meant that the Republic would never be bribed into accepting those pirates within their ranks, nor would their bribe; the frigates and their droids, ever be set upon them in dangerous numbers.

A moment later the woman clamped her jaws together when another a quick wave of pain shot through her body.

"An Uzumaki does not cry out in pain!" She muttered angrily to herself, whilst allowing some more drops of water to fall upon her limbs.

Naruko breathed out in relief.

Burns, scratches and bruises upon bruises, she would survive, just like she always did. Uzumaki were tough, they had no desire for bacta. There was no need for her to float into a barrel for the entertainment of whomever wanted to see a vulnerable Uzumaki or to be subjected to the leers of those who otherwise wouldn't even dare to meet her gaze.

More importantly, there was no need to force her sisters to take turns to guard her whilst in this sleep. She knew she wouldn't have had to ask them if she actually would have needed the bacta-treatment, she would not have needed to be asked to guard them herself either.

Instead of the luxury of a bacta-treatment, Naruko had simply bathed and was about to get some rest.

Mito had done the same, however she was already asleep because Naruko's own reminders seemed to be a bit more painful, it was that or Mito was simply better at ignoring her own discomforts. Naruko wasn't certain which one, although her own ego preferred the first option.

"What are you thinking about?" Asked a familiar female voice with an obvious worry in her voice.

Naruko smiled softly. "Just the past day and some of it's consequences." She admitted to Kurama.

The girl walked slowly out of the bathroom, dressed in little more than the gender-neutral nightclothes which most soldiers received at the start of their service.

Unlike Naruko who wore no more than her underwear, something which made Kurama's eyes linger upon the visible reminders of the day upon her team-leaders body. Well, those and a few other parts of her anatomy.

Naruko smiled in return, temporary forgetting her aches due to her ego.

Her younger sister seated herself upon Naruko's bed, next to the bleached blonde and then dropped herself upon her back. Naruko followed her example with a bit more caution.

The team leader felt the arm, which Kurama had snuck underneath her, against her back and smiled a bit more.

"Would you like to sleep here?" Naruko asked her with an endearing expression.

"Does it hurt?" Kurama asked her in return.

Naruko's expression shifted. "You know it does." She muttered.

Another arm made a poorly disguised attempt to sneak around her. "Then I wanne stay with you, even if all I can do is to distract you from it."

* * *

 _The wall wasn't that high, only a mere eight foot and it had been carefully crafted from black obsidian. This was a volcanic glass which could be found upon many worlds. The material wasn't expensive, rare or even difficult to mine, but it was commonly used in art or adornments by those who lacked the massive fortunes or influence which was associated by the upper echelons of the Empire. It was something of which the image was simple, commonly found and familiar, like the men and women whose names and code had been inscribed in the black glass. There were a hundred fifty of them upon each of the obsidian slabs, each of those blocks was crafted to be exactly eight feet high and eight feet wide, before being smoothed with an artistically, even lovingly eye for attention by the human who had been tasked to make them. There had been no droids involved with that labour, only humans, it was another trait which would have been appreciate by the men and women to who the codes belonged too ._

 _Every slab was eight feet by eight, but the wall went on for miles and miles to the point that you could walk for two entire days and only then you might just reach the point from which you had started your trip._

 _It was a sickening thought that every of those names, everyone of those seemingly endless rows of letters, numbers and symbols had been a living, breathing human being with his own dreams, goals and desires. And all of them had died without leaving so much as a single something behind, not even a body which could have confirmed their dead and the fact that once they had been alive and walked the same grounds as the other Imperials._

 _The area was quiet now, there were few people walking there and even less were willing to make a sound. There was the occasional cough or sob, a few whispered words or so but no more. There were ways in which those that stood there could air their own grief but there were few who did not do so in silence. There was no order given for that, there was no need for it._

 _The only sound that ruled the path next to this monument to the death was the sound of the rain falling down, a constant and seemingly never-ending tribute to the drama that had taken place so far away._

 _One woman with long, bottle-blond hair stood in front of the wall where she waited. Slowly she raised a single finger up and pushed the tip against the glass, just underneath the letters of a name which she whispered softly, to soft to be heard by anyone but herself._

" _Tayuya." She remembered the woman, one of her sisters, a foul mouthed redhead who had never been able to stop herself from back talking or interjecting others and that had included the bleached woman. But more than a constant annoyance she had been an intelligent girl and reliable sister who had fought with all her might to keep her sisters safe and happy. Tayuya was the name of the amateur-musician who had brightened so many boring evenings._

" _Erza." She whispered. "A weapons specialist who had become infamous among her numerous sisters for her own strictness and appreciation of the rules. A woman who had spend nearly every moment of her life in combat or in preparation of such and who had devoted that existence to her own quest to save and protect as many of her sisters as possible. A woman whose body had acquired more scars in the course of her short life then most civilians would ever witness._

" _Ma'am?" asked a young sounding male voice._

 _Naruko looked up for a moment._

" _Is there something wrong, trooper?" Naruko asked him._

 _Her voice was dry and almost sounded as if she was choking, her blue eyes were red rimmed._

 _The soldier, a young man who, despite his grey hair, did not look a day over eighteen, hesitated for a moment._

 _He bit his lip for a moment. "I am sorry, ma'am." He whispered, "but you are not allowed to touch the glass."_

 _Naruko stared at the boy for a moment, her finger still hanging underneath Erza's name, but she was not feeling defiant, not that day or on this place, not against someone barely more than a boy who honestly seemed ashamed for being told to ask her that due to regulations._

 _She lowered her finger again._

" _I understand, soldier." She said._

 _The boy hesitated for a moment. "I am sorry ma'am." He repeated._

 _Naruko kept staring at the names._

" _I was there." She whispered eventually, only just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the rain by the soldier._

" _Ma'am?"_

" _I was there when the battle station was destroyed by those terrorists." Naruko whispered. "I was in my TIE at the time. I had left only minutes before, being send out to attack their station at Yavin."_

 _Naruko paused for a moment. "So were some of my sisters."_

" _I was born with some of them, others had fought and lived with me for years. We were friends, a family, sisters even. There was one of them, Ranma, who had only been with us for a week or so and who kept clinging to me for protection and advice." Naruko's voice wavered for a moment when she pointed at one of the identification-codes._

 _However she did not touch the glass and if he was honest, the soldier did not feel like interjecting her even if she would have done so._

" _When the station exploded," she continued, " about half of my sister still stood in the hanger, together with the 501_ _st_ _Legion. And I can only wonder how many escaped the conflagration before getting caught up by the aftermath of the explosion."_

" _So many of my sisters... and so many others." She whispered. "I had fought with so many of them, some were incompetent, others were foolish or even cowardly but so many more were brave, devoted, skilled and loyal. There was at least one trooper who had the gall to date one of my sisters and who was beaten up by me in return."_

 _For a single moment, something like the ghost of smile seemed to appear upon her features. "She spend almost an entire hour yelling at me afterwards."_

" _My father spend some time with one of the battalions who had been stationed just below the Equatorial Trench, two levels underneath the batteries." The trooper paused for a moment to smile sadly. " This made a lot of noise so they kept grumbling about the sounds, complaining that it was sheer impossible to sleep there."_

 _Naruko nodded. "I know. It also posted them far from the escape pods." She shook her head in return. "Not that those would have saved them even if they were stationed nearby."_

 _Naruko sighed. "I spend maybe an hour weaving through the debris afterwards before Mito's voice shook me out of my daze. We joined up with one of the nearby fleets to make a retaliatory strike upon the rebels."_

" _There was no brilliant plan or great strategy in those days, we just operated upon instincts, upon anger and upon our desire for revenge."_

" _I had slept for maybe two hours in preparation of that assault when Kurama woke me up." Naruko continued. "The tech-guys had intercepted a rebel transmission."_

 _Naruko took a deep breath and the raw hatred in her voice was almost a tangible presence. "I saw the rebel's celebration ceremony. I saw the bastard who had singlehandedly judged nearly two million defenceless Imperials to death with a single press of a button and the smuggler who had kept Lord Vader from saving them all receiving medals... all in the name of freedom."_

" _I couldn't sleep for the rest of the flight, I just sat in my TIE, waiting for the signal to go off and to be let loose upon the rebels."_

" _When it came, it was deliverance. They had prepared their orbital defence well but we were better."_

" _We destroyed hundreds of their ships that day and shot what remained of our ammo down below at their temples and barracks before turning around to refuel upon that first day alone. Hundreds wasn't enough though. Emperor's Black Bones! Thousands wouldn't have been enough, but upon that first day of the blockade of Yavin we felt vindicated. Over a million of imperial voices had cried out in terror, only to be silenced without mercy but we had heard them all!"_

" _After that day, we kept the pressure upon them, I think I spend more time in the Hangar or in a TIE than anywhere else throughout the next weeks. I was in my TIE when we received the message that Lord Vader had been found."_

 _Naruko smiled softly. "I still remember the cheering of the survivors of 501th over the Intercom when the news hit."_

 _Then she pointed her eyes back at the row of names._

" _If you don't mind me." Naruko said. "I would like to stay here for a while. Think about the past before I leave again."_

 _The young man nodded. "I understand ma'am._

 _Naruko nodded but her tone implied she had barely heard him._

 _The young man walked back slowly and sighed before touching his fake eye, the one which replaced the real one which had kept him from serving upon the Battle station as a recruit._

 _Most of his comrades and friends had died whilst he lay upon the operation table, getting refitted for service._

 _It was half an hour later when Naruko raised her head up and made way towards the exit, to find the vehicle which would take her back to her ship and her surviving sisters. Back to the war and her attempt to protect those of her siblings who had survived and to avenge those who did not._

 _Above the exit, in a low arc stood a single sentence from dark metal. "In memory to all who died upon the Death Star"._

* * *

 **Would you mind giving me your opinion?**


	4. Worlds Adrift

**This is particular one-shot was made to get rid of a pair of particular tenacious ideas which kept returning to my mind.**

 **Warning, this is an AU which takes place in the aftermath from an alternate Blood Prison-universe. Some general knowledge about the movie (and the series will be necessary to catch everything). Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu do exist in this world but are not as** **powerful** **as in the canon.**

 **More important warning: this chapter has not been checked by a beta, spelling and** **grammatical** **mistakes are (** **unfortunately** **) expected.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own his wikia (hint for those who want to read the chapter without having watched or read every part of the series, all named characters have an entry)**

* * *

The one-eyed swordsman smirked as he eyed the woman who had walked straight for his table.

Then again, he wasn't the only one to stare at her with obvious desire in his remaining eye, most of the men in the bar did and likewise there was more than one woman who temporarily forgot to breathe as they took stock of the appearance of the woman who had entered.

The newcomer was young, not even twenty and seemed still bereft of the surly world-weariness which usually accompanied those who frequented bars in Shijima no Kuni. However youth had hardly ever been a deterrent for suffering in the shinobi-world.

Even so, everything about this woman's appearance and expression seemed to scream that she had been kept away from the cruelty of the world and just a single glimpse of her figure or her features made it obvious why she would have been given safety and privileges whilst so many others hadn't.

Beauty was hardly an uncommon commodity in a world where so many people changed their appearance routinely with the aid of chakra and yet even a single glance made it obvious that this woman stood upon a lonely height above even talented and experienced kunoichi.

Her appearance was even more extraordinary since this particular woman was cursed with a notoriously unreliable grasp upon her chakra, a control which was therefore too erratic to permanently change her appearance.

However those particular bits of knowledge were not something which Waraji would have cared for to know, not that the woman would have felt the intention to tell him even if he had done so.

The blonde who walked towards him and his gang wore a haori which was dark grey in colour and which had the kanji for "Protected" written upon the back. Underneath it she wore a thin looking blouse of which the colour was a far lighter hue of grey and it was obvious that she, except for the sash which she had wrapped around her middle, wore nothing else underneath the haori. It shouldn't surprise anyone that a lot of eyes went wide when she bowed as she greeted the mercenary.

Whilst not as eye-catching as her chest, the girl was blessed with a pair of long legs which would have grabbed the eyes of most men if she would have exposed them to world, however unlike her chest, she had left these particular assets hidden underneath simple black pants.

Lastly the woman wore a set of sandals on her feet which were dark blue in colour.

The woman carried no visible weapons although she had a small pouch strapped to her left leg. Again there were very few people who would have noticed that particular titbit whenever she neglected to close her blouse rather highly.

The blonde's hair was long and she wore those tresses in a pair of high ponies which cascade down upon her shoulders as if it was liquid gold. And yet despite that impression it had none of the coldness or weight of that metal, instead it seemed light and alive as her hair moved at the urgings of even the slightest breeze.

Her face was no less beautiful despite the six lines which scarred her cheeks. However it weren't her pouty lips or her button-nose which drew people's attention. What did were her eyes, these were of an unusual shade of blue which resembled the clear water of a tropical sea. There was no hint of evil which could have remained hidden in those eyes, the only thing they held was an obvious wonder and curiosity.

It made people obviously wonder why someone like her had come to a place like this and more particularly, to a man like Waraji for who the death and suffering of others was both his pleasure and the source of his income.

"You are miss Uzumaki, no?" Waraji asked whilst he removed his eyes from her chest to slug the rest of his bottle down.

The blonde nodded in return. "Yes," she admitted, "I am Naruko."

The man snorted before he dropped the bottle upon the table and lowered his gaze back to her chest.

"My eyes are up here." Naruko told him with something resembling an edge in her voice as she pointed at said cyan-coloured orbs.

Waraji chuckled in return. "I have made my pick, what are you going to do about it?"

Naruko glared momentarily, before she sighed which was an obvious mistake since it made her chest move up and down.

"You are supposed to be a good swordsman, the best in this entire city." Naruko admitted before she added, with a rather obvious hint of resentment. "Or you at least you will be so for another two days or so."

Waraji narrowed his eyes instantly and his earlier leer disappeared as he straightened his posture.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" He demanded of her.

Naruko took another deep breath. "There is another swordsman upon his way to this place. His name is Raiga Kurosuki, I assume you have heard of him?"

Waraji narrowed his eyes again after hearing that name and bit down.

"I have heard of him." He admitted with a mixture of anger and distrust in his voice.

"Why are you here?" Waraji demanded of her. "I doubt you've come here to warn me of the arrival of the owner of the Thunderswords."

Naruko took a deep breath. "I didn't." She admitted after short hesitation. "I came because ... he created a situation... I need dealt with."

It was almost impossible not to notice the way Naruko hesitated or cringed when she spoke those words.

"How interesting..." Waraji mused in return. "It almost seems to me as if you wanted me and my boys to kill him, no?"

The man grinned. "Or am I mistaken?"

Naruko stared at him once again with something akin to disgust. "It is not that I want him to die...but I know someone who needs his ...punishment."

"Isn't that intriguing?" Whispered Waraji mockingly whilst he leaned backwards and rubbed the back of his head with both hands.

"And who is this someone?" Waraji asked her. "And what will I get in return?"

Naruko took a deep breath. "My master's identity is none of your business." She whispered with some defiance in her voice. "About the rest, you can keep the Kibas and everything he owns on top of the thousand pieces of silver I will bring you."

"Now that sounds intriguing." Waraji muttered as he seemed to muse over the offer.

Then a cruel smile appeared upon his face and his hand shot forward. One moment later he had closed his fingers around the far younger girl's wrist.

Naruko instinctively grabbed the much stronger swordsman's wrist and made a futile attempt to wrench his hand from around the limb.

"You see," Waraji began. "There is something else I want, something which every man with a pair would have wanted since you've been here."

He caught a glimpse from the instinctual fear in Naruko's eyes as she looked back at him.

He chuckled in return. "What? Don't tell me that this master of you just used you to tuck him in?"

Naruko made another attempt to wrench herself free.

"No," Waraji continued with the same obvious mocking undertone. "I bet you are rather the slut after he drops some of that silver before you and makes you bend down before him as you reach for each and every coin."

Naruko gave him a furious look which entertained him all the more.

"But you knew all of that, no? And so did your master otherwise he wouldn't have send you here!"

After those words Naruko raised a hand up in a gesture which made it obvious she was going to slap him, however it wouldn't come to that.

What happened instead was a single, small crossbow bolt which flew between Waraji's own nose and his raised hand before it struck the wall and fell down with a bent tip.

For a single moment Waraji was too surprised to do anything, then he jumped backwards and reached for his swords as he stared around him whilst he looked for the assassin. Naruko however wasn't and the girl threw herself immediately backwards and dropped upon one knee. The distance which she crossed with that singular jump was only a few feet, however this was enough to keep away from his reaching hands...and his sword.

In the meanwhile the owner of the crossbow had placed another quarrel in the groove of the weapon and had now pointed the weapon at the swordsman whilst simultaneously holding a small, glass bottle up as if the newcomer was prepared to throw it at the small cluster of swordsmen who had formed up behind Waraji.

"Ryu!" Naruko yelled at the assassin, "Don't, you'll kill us all!"

Waraji stared at the newly appeared arbalester. This particular figure was lean and fairly tall with what seemed like a pair of broad shoulders which were almost entirely hidden underneath a heavy looking cloak from green cloth which had been stained with mud. Ryu's appearance or age was impossible to guess due to the green bandanna and matching shawl which obscured the features of the assassin's face. However what could be seen was both unusual and unsettling. Ryu had a fair skin and waist length hair, thus far the only attributes which were not that extraordinary. What was far more unusual was the colour of the hair that came from underneath the bandanna. Each of these strands of hair had a pale white colour as if every strand had been sliced from clean ivory. And yet, even that characteristic was not as unusual as the grey eyes which contained several circular patterns like the legendary Rinnegan-Kekkei Genkai. However there were plenty of people who would have failed to recognize the similarity with the Sage's legacy, what those people, what nobody could have missed was the furious anger which was burning in these eyes.

Waraji took a deep breath as he attempted to estimate his chances and he couldn't say he felt confident about the odds which had been staked against him. He knew that no single marksmen could hope to kill more than two men before they had crossed the distance between him and the arbalester... furthermore he commanded five swordsmen!

His doubts however were not about whether his gang could win this particular confrontation, they were there because he knew for certain that whatever it was that would happen in the next seconds, he knew he would be the first to die if Death decided to visit this bar.

"Who is this?" Waraji demanded of Naruko as he tried to move away from the crossbow which had been pointed at him.

"Ryu." Naruko answered him calmly whilst a pair of grey eyes narrowed even further after their owner recognised Waraji's tone. "My protector."

Naruko took a deep breath and shot the assassin a kind smile which was undeniable filled with genuine joy and affection.

Naruko pointed her eyes back at Waraji. "My master did not order me to come here." She told Waraji with a noticeable contempt. "I choose to do so so my master wouldn't be forced to speak to you."

Naruko walked back towards to Ryu although she took great care to keep out of the potential path of the white-haired arbalester's next bolt. Once she was close enough to ascertain herself from the security of said presence she turned her head back to Waranji.

"What will you do?" Naruko asked him. "Will you take the offer and the silver if you succeed ...or not?"

"Pick wisely," Ryu muttered after Naruko's question although these two words were so softly spoken that they barely reached the group of swordsmen."

Waraji hesitated for another moment, than the swordsman shrugged. "The Kibas, and the bounty upon that bastard's head... plenty of reasons to kill him."

For a moment he wondered why this master of Naruko had refused to simply set Ryu upon the legendary swordsman but then he dismissed that possibility easily enough. Whether overrated or not, Raiga was without a doubt a brilliant swordsman whilst the assassin seemed to utilize a rather small crossbow and what he suspected were explosives. There was no way a single archer could stand a chance against a swordsman like Raiga who was capable of blocking arrows with his swords unless the giant could be caught unaware. That particular skill of Raiga was one of the reasons for his renown and Waraji saw no reason to question it's veracity, especially since he himself had succeeded in doing so as well at several occasions.

Still as he remembered that the assassin had not just pointed a crossbow at him but also happened to be holding a flask of what was most likely an explosive liquid, Waraji preferred to play it safe... for now.

Naruko however remained seemingly unaware his thoughts and smiled at him in return.

"Raiga will most likely arrive at the city, in another two days,... just before the closing of the gates." Naruko told him.

"My master took the liberty to arrange for a house, food and a crate with weapons so you could keep out of sight whilst you and your people prepared an ambush."

Waraji snorted at her mention of an ambush, something which she ignored in return.

Then Naruko, once again seemed to forget about the cut of her blouse and bowed her head in a show of respect that she did not feel, before she reached for her bodyguard's arm as the pair made their way to exit.

* * *

"Do you believe they stand a chance against Raiga?" Naruko asked Ryu.

Said assassin kept playing with the pin which closed the green cloak before Ryu finally removed it and draped it around Naruko's shoulders which revealed that Ryu's shoulders were far less broad than they had appeared at the first glance.

"If what we have heard thus far is correct, than they're rather fine swordsmen, brave and they will have plenty of weapons if they're intelligent enough to check our gift." Ryu muttered with a soft voice which was muffled by the green shawl.

Without the cloak Ryu had simultaneously exposed a pair of fair skinned, slender arms which now showed the first signs of goosebumps due to the chilly air of the evening.

"I have seen their kind before," Ryu continued although the ninja paused momentarily to look down as Naruko leaned her body against Ryu's and then wrapped the cloak around them both whilst she rested her blond head upon Ryu's shoulder.

"That was in some of the gangs I joined before I was sent to Hozuki. They went in with courage, skill, talent and weapons. They were generally slaughtered like cattle when they squared off against someone who had an actual plan!"

Naruko could hear Ryu's sadistic pleasure at the likely possibility of their death and decided to stay silent. She knew it was the best offer which Ryu would gift them with, they had a chance to succeed, it was up to them whether they tried to optimize their chances or not and if they refused to do so than they deserved whatever it was that fate had in store for them.

Both walked on in silent for a few seconds, then it was Ryu who broke the silence again.

"He was wrong, you know that, right?" Ryu whispered at her. "You might be mine, but you're nobody's slut and you're definitely not a mindless slave or a gold-digger!"

Naruko cocked her head; if she was honest she had already forgotten Waraji's earlier accusations although she couldn't deny that they had stung momentarily at the time.

The smaller, younger woman stopped instantly and turned her head towards Ryu and brushed it against the assassin's shirt whilst one hand brushed softly against the cheek which was still hidden by the green scarf.

"I am nobody slave." She repeated with a smile whilst her fingers caught a hold of the thin cloth and she exposed Ryu's face.

"I am nobody's slut." Naruko continued whilst she tiptoed and dragged two fingers over Ryu's pink lips.

Then her smile broadened and she closed her eyes as she kissed Ryu upon those lips.

"But I am yours, my Ryuzetsu, by my own volition and your acceptance." Naruko finished before she resumed her kiss.

Ryuzetsu smiled as she accepted Naruko's kiss. They should never have been allowed to meet, Ryuzetsu was a hardened criminal; a murderer, a thief, an assassin and to almost every account, a traitor. She had been everything which people feared about ninjas and worse. She had done all that to get into Hozuki, she had lived a life which made her deserving of the deepest darkest pit of hell and had received exactly what she wanted and deserved; the sentence of a lifetime in Hozuki, the blood-prison! Muku deserved his revenge... and she deserved hers for being robbed of him. And yet as she schemed to set up the revolt which would kill Mui and the bastards which had torn her village to shreds and turned it into a sect, she had caught her first glimpse of Naruko.

It hadn't been love, Ryuzetsu doubted she had been capable of feeling that particular emotion by that time. But she had felt something, but what? Pity for with a girl who appeared so obviously broken and betrayed? Disgust as she knew what the fate of the only confirmed girl would be in a prison filled to the brim with rapists and murderers? Lust of her own, since for all her vices and virtues, Ryuzetsu had been a woman with needs and very little kindness left inside of her? Or had been something much simpler, loneliness? She had been alone for such long time, as she had refused to let anyone in after Muku had been killed by his own father, a man whom she had liked and even admired before that night which ruined her life. And then after all that time alone, after being isolated and fearing the discovery of her plans and gender for months, she discovered a girl who seemed so similar to herself upon that day when she took her first steps upon the blood-soaked journey which was her life. A girl who somehow had retained the kindness and innocence which she herself had lost and ... all of suddenly she had realized she envied Naruko for that.

Protecting Naruko had quickly become something of an obsession and she praised every god and goddess she knew that she had given in instantly rather than obeying her pride or her common sense.

If she hadn't, Naruko would have died and even if by some miracle she would have survived, it was not exactly difficult to imagine what would have happened to her if she would have been left alone in the medical ward without anyone to watch over her.

She hadn't though and Naruko survived her attempt to escape that hell without any harm to herself, but with knowledge of Ryuzetsu's gender after said woman had come to her rescue. It had been the start from her own healing process after the pain and its scars had been left to fester for nearly an entire decade. Ryu, the head of one of the most powerful gangs in the prison had become Naruko's protector and " _friend_ ". In the weeks that followed Ryuzetsu began to teach Naruko how to defend herself, how to hurt others and why they had to be hurt so she could survive and save herself from suffering. And every so often Naruko was forced to pay the price for her protection and undressed as Ryu dragged her to a quiet, isolated corner of the building so she could be " _raped_ ".

Those moments had quickly become highlight of Naruko's weeks in the prison. Even in Konoha, Naruko had been lonely and often been ignored or abandoned, but throughout those hours that hadn't been the case. Perhaps she should have felt embarrassment when she stripped herself of the rags which had protected her modesty from the eyes of the other prisoners. Maybe she should have felt some shame when she moaned or cried out in an imitation of either pain or ecstasy, whatever suited the moment, especially once she discovered that more than a few of Ryuzetsu's gang members had jumped upon the opportunity to " _investigate_ " whenever " _Ryu_ _had_ _his_ _way_ _with_ _her_ ".

She should have felt a lot things which she didn't feel. Instead in accordance to her own nature she had focused upon the positives which made this time in hell such a happy experience for her.

Despite Ryu's claims towards her followers, Ryuzetsu had never touched her in a way she hadn't wanted. Despite the sounds she made, the two of them had simply laid there in each others arms and Naruko had never felt safer or less out of her place. Naruko had been ignored and ridiculed in her "home" and yet throughout those moments in " _Hell upon Earth_ " she was being held as if she was the most valuable thing in the world. Whatever words Ryuzetsu employed in front of others, once she took Naruko in her arms, the only oaths she made were promises to help the blonde, to value her, to care for her, to never harm her and to never again let anyone else harm her.

Naruko had known nothing about love before she entered the prison or at least she hadn't known a thing about a healthy kind of love, yet after exciting the place she was confident she had come far closer to understanding it than ever before.

By the time the revolt had come close, Naruko had been in love and had been willing to take every opportunity to return the often clumsy affection which Ryuzetsu had shown her throughout the past months.

When Mui's seals wore off and Ryu suddenly found herself one of the weakest members of the prison and the target of numerous grudges, most of her opponents quickly discovered why an innocent girl had been forced into the worst prison of the shinobi-nations. It had never been about what she had done or had been willing to do at the time; it had been about what she could do if her handlers failed...

When the moment to choose came, there were no handlers. All there was... was the choice between the values and morals which had been emphasised to her for most of her life... and the one person who had risked so much to help her and to show her she cared. To take a hundred lives and to leave so many others to whatever mercy an actual demon would offer them, or to sacrifice that one person, an unrepentant assassin, and to save hundreds of inmates, guards and nearby civilians, Naruko's choice had been so much easier than she ever had imagined it to be...

* * *

It was two days later when Naruko found herself staring down from the roof upon the confrontation which she and Ryuzetsu had set up.

Raiga was a tall man, but that was something which she had known on forehand. He was a strong man too, but again that was not unexpected. What surprised her, what she hadn't anticipated was the speed with which he moved. The warrior was fast, almost inhumanly so. Raiga faced off against five swordsmen and he was undeniably winning. A first man fell upon his knees as he desperately attempted to push his entrails back in their place.

Naruko had half hoped that it would be this combination of strength and inhuman speed which had given birth to such a monstrous reputation. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't the case. Raiga's strength and speed were great but it was equally obvious that the man was an extraordinary skilled swordsman. As infamous as his reputation was, Naruko was more inclined to believe it was depreciating the danger he represented rather than overestimating it.

A second man died as one of Raiga's blades tore through his throat after a seemingly minor motion of his wrist.

Naruko shook her head. It had taken him scarcely half a minute to kill two experienced swordsmen.

Raiga kept moving and Naruko desperately attempted to discover some kind pattern in his motions but she failed. She wasn't certain whether it was because she simply lacked the skill and experience to read his body language, or because Raiga adjusted himself too rapidly to the equally rapidly changing circumstances in the fight.

Number three groaned softly as he slumped down against a nearby wall which was now stained with red and the remaining swordsmen split up as they attempted to take him from two sides.

Raiga simply chuckled in return and pointed one of his swords in each of the remaining swordsmen's direction. His head on the other hand was pointed at only one of the swordsmen.

 _That_ was something interesting and Naruko wondered if he had some kind of technique to protect the majority of his backside with one sword whilst he focused his attention to the front.

Waraji who stood at the front grinned at the sight and lunged at Raiga who parried the motion with his customary superhuman reflexes. Both swords connected with a metallic ring and Waraji jumped back after a second, the man moved only just in time to evade the counter-attack of Raiga's sword.

Behind Raiga, Waraji's henchmen lunged as well. His attack took no more than an instant, Naruko would have missed it if she wouldn't have fixed her attention upon the man at Raiga's back rather than upon Waraji himself.

The lunge had been a brilliant attack; it was rapid, timed to coincide as well as possible with Waraji's own attempt and aimed at Raiga's lower leg so that he wouldn't have been able to parry it with a random motion. Naruko knew it would have crippled her if she had been subjected to such a well-timed assault.

Raiga on the other hand, he deflected it with a simple motion from his second blade.

Naruko blinked in return.

"That," she admitted to herself, "was more than a little bit unsettling."

There was no way that action could have been coincidence and Raiga's motion had been aimed to show that. It hadn't been an elaborate defence which was meant to stop an attack from one out of several directions, no instead it had been meant to defend against a lunge out of that particular direction.

Naruko took a deep breath. "Was it possible that Raiga was some kind of Hyugai?" She asked herself. "That would explain his seemingly supernatural speed and control, as well as the stories about his skill to defend against attacks from every possible direction."

She felt some pity towards Waraji. The man and his comrade fought on, but it was obvious that they stood no chance against Raiga and each of them had recognised that truth.

Waraji held out for three more strikes, and then his sword hit the ground, together with his hand.

The swordsman's henchman died a moment later.

From her position Naruko could see the fear upon Waraji's face as well as the large wicker basket which hung upon Raiga's back. Naruko wasted a single moment to curse the basket since this would stop every bolt which she could send at his broad back which otherwise would have been her first target. Then she pointed her own crossbow at the far smaller target which was the back of Raiga's head.

Naruko took a deep breath, she would have only a single opportunity to end this quickly and without any danger for her and Ryuzetsu.

Naruko saw Raiga raise both his swords up for what seemed like a scissoring motion to decapitate Waraji.

A crimson line appeared upon Waraji's neck before his body slumped down upon his right side whilst his head hit the ground with a sickening splat and rolled a few feet to the left.

The crossbow's bolt had left the bow the moment Raiga's sword met Waraji's flesh.

Then it met with steel and fell down harmlessly.

Naruko swore as she stood up and stared down at Raiga.

So the stories are true," Naruko muttered as she drew the cord from her weapon backwards.

"You're with them?" Raiga asked her as he gave Waraji's body a kick.

"No," Naruko corrected them. "They were with me."

"Aah..." Raiga muttered. "Did I kill a relative?"

Naruko shook her head and pointed her weapon back at Raiga.

"No," She admitted. "It is just business. I am doing this for the money."

Raiga nodded again, he looked somewhat disappointed but not overtly surprised before he pointed his swords at her.

Another quarrel flew at him and was harmlessly slapped aside by a swipe from one of his blades.

Naruko reached for a third bolt whilst Raiga raced towards at her.

A third bolt struck against steel and Naruko turned upon her heels and took off whilst she pulled the cord of her weapon back for the fourth time.

Behind her she heard a first grunt and she knew Raiga had planted his feet upon the lower wall.

Once again she pulled another quarrel from the quiver which had been strapped to her back. She placed the bolt in the groove from her weapon, pressed the projectile in its place and pointed it back into Raiga's direction whilst she sank down upon knee.

If Waranji had seen the speed and accuracy with which Naruko completed these tasks he would never have dared to lay a hand upon her, however despite her obvious skills with a crossbow Naruko was a genuinely kind girl who was obviously out of her place in such a grim business. Unfortunately for her, people like her were left without many alternatives for violence if they wanted to survive...or keep someone else alive.

Raiga wrapped his fingers around the corner of the rooftop and pulled himself up. He smiled and stared directly at her as his head appeared from behind the stones, then he rapidly swung to the right which made the next quarrel miss his skull. The sound of a grunt escaped his lips and then he had pulled himself up.

Naruko swore again and turned around whilst she continued to run in an attempt to maintain the distance between them.

Raiga came after her. Both shinobi were fast and the rooftops were slippery.

Naruko kept running, she scarcely ever slowed down despite the distance which separated cobblestones from the street underneath them from the roof. She knew these roofs; she had been crossing them ever since she knew where Waranji and his gang would be waiting for Raiga. This familiarity helped her greatly to keep a distance between her and Raiga.

Naruko sped up as she recognized the nearby chimney and then she jumped, for a single moment time seemed to stand still and then she landed upon a nearby, but lower rooftop, Naruko rolled down to break the worst of her fall, stood up again and continued her run. Raiga tried to follow her but the first rooftop creaked dangerously underneath his sandals and the man swore loudly as he stepped back and was forced to make a detour.

Naruko used that delay to bend down and placed her quiver upon the ground whilst she removed her haori with a wide gesture. The girl placed her hands upon her knees whilst she took a few, loud intakes of breath before she swung her quiver back over shoulder and placed another quarrel in the groove from her weapon.

Another bolt flew at Raiga and then she turned around again and made another effort to retain her head start upon him whilst the giant seemed intend upon barrelling straight at her as if he meant to trample her underfoot like a massive, stampeding animal. Suddenly Raiga's eyes expanded and he made a great jump forward which had him land clumsily upon his hands and knees. When he scrambled back up with a bit of effort, he sat only a few feet past the haori which Naruko had dropped. The man reached behind him and grabbed one of the objects of which had been spied by his pair of red eyes at the moment before he jumped. It took him another second before he recognized the objects as caltrops which Naruko had planted whilst she disguised this trap with the gestures with which she had removed her jacket.

After that bit of delay he stood back up again and blocked the next quarrel which had come from the blonde. Said teenager swore again as she was rapidly approaching the bottom from the box of tricks which she and Ryuzetsu had prepared.

The chase kept going, but none of Naruko's quarrels succeeded in doing so much as draw a single drop of Raiga's blood.

Eventually Naruko reached the border to the main street of the village. The distance between the roofs on either side of this street was at least forty feet, far too much to jump and usually her fate would have been sealed at this point. The distance between her and Raiga was to short too escape in the obvious directions, the swordsman would easily be able to intercept her and he knew that as well as she did.

However Naruko and Ryuzetsu had at least one more trick to play. It was only a single, long piece of wood between the roofs, but it was enough to give Naruko an access to the other side.

The girl ran as fast she could, however she was only three quarter of the way when Raiga reached the plank as well and gave it a kick to send it into the deep. Naruko couldn't help but feel an enormous gratefulness for Ryuzetsu's insistence to nail it down upon forehand.

The man swore and took after her again. Unsurprisingly Naruko took her chance for the umpteenth time when the swordsman began to cross the distance. Raiga's skill and speed were barely damped by his weariness though and he deflected each of her bolts with the almost casual ease which Naruko had come to expect from him.

It was only once he reached the centre of the board that Raiga discovered the nature of this particular ambush.

Still it was telling for Raiga's skill that even in this uncomfortable, precarious position he was capable of deflecting the quarrels whilst retaining his balance.

Ryzetsu chuckled as she pointed her weapon at the back of the giant's head. She had no idea how he had found out about her presence, but it was too late for him to stop them though.

The sword blocked another bolt and said projectile fell down upon the cobblestones against which it snapped and kept laying down.

Raiga roared in outrage as he moved his head quickly from left to the right and back, he no longer attempted to defend himself with a quiet, almost casual ease or made an attempt to act with elegant nonchalance as he deflected the projectiles.

Instead he showed the fury he actually felt after the hour-long chase across the rooftops and the numerous bolts which had been aimed at him.

Still the appearance of a second marksman had broken his stride and it was obvious he had no real idea about what to do. There were only two directions in which he could move and each of them would result in a crossbow which would get aimed at his face as well as a second one which would be pointed at his back.

However Naruko and Ryzetsu had used their opportunity to prepare for this confrontation well. Their plan went further than simply lure him to the center of the plank and then pepper him with quarrels.

Once Ryzetsu noticed that Raiga had returned his attentions to Naruko, the woman removed her current bolt from her crossbow, in it's place she pressed a quarrel with a far thicker, heavier tip in the groove.

Ryzetsu was visibly smirking when she aimed the weapon upon her latest target.

Once again Raiga moved his weapon to intercept her quarrel but this time, his sword struck nothing except for air.

The bolt struck it's intended target and broke through the wood with a loud crack.

Naruko who had aimed one of her usual bolts at the man's chest fired only a second after Ryzetsu. Once again; her quarrel was deflected, but it had done his job and Raiga screamed as the wood broke underneath his feet and his body smashed against the cobblestones.

The giant moved slowly as crawled back up and groaned with confusion and pain, then these muted sounds turned into a loud outcry of pain. Ryzetsu's latest bolt had struck him in the shoulder. Naruko's quarrel followed a moment later, she struck his side.

Chakra however is mighty tool, it can numb pain and close wounds, whilst it keeps you from bleeding out. Wounds which should have killed you upon the spot can be shrugged off, or at least this can be done for a while if you have enough chakra to endure the torment. Raiga as it turned out, had plenty of chakra.

High above him, Naruko shook her head as placed another quarrel upon her weapon.

"What does it take to kill that monstrosity?!" She exclaimed with a mixture of obvious frustration and something akin to fear and even admiration in her voice.

Ryzetsu swore as well whilst she pointed her weapon once again upon the now muttering giant.

Raiga however deflected both quarrels once again before he shook the remains from the wicker basket from his back.

"What is he doing?" Naruko whispered to herself as she noticed his actions.

Raiga used the short hesitation to throw a quick glimpse inside of the basket.

Then he stood up and roared loudly, Naruko felt an instinctive shiver slide down her back. This was not just a furious outcry; it contained far more pain and sadness than anything else.

Another bolt struck Raiga's thigh and he slumped down. Above him, still safely upon one of the rooftops, Naruko reached for a quarrel with a large, heart-shaped tip which otherwise would have been employed to take a horse down.

She saw Raiga turn around to stare at her and she pointed her crossbow at him as she hoped that that weight of the tip would be enough to keep his sword from slapping it aside.

Her eyes followed the flight of her bolt even as she reached for the next projectile in her quiver. However this time, she should not have worried, Raiga failed to raise his weapons and the bolt struck his shoulder with enough force to make him rock back and forth like a punch ball after a particularly vicious uppercut. One sword fell from his hand and she saw Raiga reach for his shoulder with the other one which had still a sword clenched in his fist. Then another bolt whistled through the air and fell upon his back where it tore through flesh and muscles.

Raiga fell upon his knees.

Naruko hesitated momentarily, then her desire to be done with this night overcame her reluctance and she launched her own bolt.

This one struck his chest.

Ryzetsu sighed just before she released her own horse-killer at him.

Raiga felt something massive strike his back and was thrown forward as he dropped his final blade.

His face struck the dirt which stained the cobblestone but he raised his upper body for one last time as he turned his head towards the broken remains of the wicker basket.

Then he felt another quarrel tear through his bloodied chest... and there was nothing which was left to feel as he fell backwards.

Raiga failed to react when the back of his head struck the bloodied cobblestones.

Even so, two more quarrels struck his belly before Naruko and Ryzetsu left their perch.

"That... was a tough one." Naruko whispered almost respectfully.

Ryzetsu nodded in return. "Grab his swords!" She reminded Naruko before she walked towards the remains of the casket.

"Fuck," was what she almost instantly exclaimed when she saw it's contents as she felt something cold and heavy settle down her stommach. "That's ...rather gross."

"Ryuzetsu?" Naruko asked her as she turned her head towards the older kunoichi who instantly straightened her back and closed the cover of the casket with a rapid gesture.

Said assassin shook her head in return to her question. "Don't ask!" She told Naruko whilst she extended an open hand to accept one of the swords.

"Are you certain, you don't want to be the one to cut his head off?" Ryuzetsu asked Naruko without actually expecting her to agree.

Naruko removed her own eyes from the direction of Raiga's basket and nodded instantly.

Ryuzetsu chuckled and reached down to clutch a few strands of Raiga's hair before she raised the sword up.

Then it fell down again and Ryzetsu stabbed the tip of the weapon in the ground before she grabbed it just underneath the hilt and offered Naruko the hilt of the now bloodstained weapon.

The girl nodded and quickly moved a rag over the blade before she slid it back down it's scabbard.

"You're certain we can't keep these beauties?" Naruko asked her whilst she stared down at the weapons with some obvious admiration.

Ryzetsu shook her head in return. "Just getting half of the head's worth in money will be difficult enough without giving our identity away. If even a single village finds out we have the Kibas..." Ryzetsu shook her head again. "Trust me, having a ton of untraceable silver is often the better choice."

"Do we even have a fence who will give us a fair price for them?" Naruko wondered as she stared at the paired weapons.

Ryzetsu snorted after that question.

"We don't." She admitted as she wrapped one arm around Naruko and began to drag her away from their target and his meagre remaining possessions. "But I know several who will keep our names secret... however we will have to hurry. Prices tend to go down even more once your client expects your merchandise."

Naruko nodded. "To bad we can't make them bid against each other." She remarked only half joking.

Ryzetsu nodded. "To bad indeed." She whispered as behind her she saw the first beggars approach the corpse and search for coins and salvageable goods.

She knew none of them would be willing to breathe so much as a single word against the local city guards, those " _servants of the law_ " (and more importantly the magistrates who tended to hang them without a second thought), however there was little doubt that there would be informers for the better fences as well as the local thieves guild among them. Those last mattered little to her, she had no intention of spending their next night in the town. The first on the other hand...

Ryzetsu smiled as she dragged Naruko along.

"The closest of the fences is maybe ten minutes away, let's see if we can make it in five." She whispered before she pressed a kiss upon Naruko's cheek and set off.

* * *

Another chase over the rooftops commenced instantly, but this one would leave no dead victim upon the streets. On the other hand one trader in wares of questionable origin found an unexpected difference in the weight of his pockets by the first light of the morning, he did not complain as he stared at two swords which would reap him a hefty profit. The pair of kunoichi-turned-freelance assassins were no less pleased by the added weight in their metaphorical pockets. The extra weight was tiresome and persuaded both of them to undress and head for their bed the moment they arrived in their hideout; it wasn't enough to persuade either of them to get some sleep before the first light of dawn finally broke through.

"It was a brilliant recapitulation of her life." Ryzetsu thought as she finally closed her eyes and listened to Naruko's soft snoring. "Their world was a bloodstained place, it was gruesome like the bag with Raiga's decapitated head could ascertain and a greedy one like the bag with blood money which his swords had already shown them... and yet it could be so beautiful."

Ryzetsu carefully fingered the necklace which had been a part of their payment for the swords. It was a simple piece of jewelry, little more than a thin, gilded rope to which a number of inscribed, golden coins had been hung. Another bit of blood money which was now moving up and down Naruko's otherwise bare chest whenever the girl took another breath in.

Ryzetsu slowly moved her finger downward, from the inscribed surface from the coins towards the equally warm but much softer smoothness of the younger woman's breasts. She could feel the sleeping woman's breath quicken when she moved her fingers towards the girl's nipple and drew a single circle around each of them with the tip of her fingers.

A soft chuckle escaped Ryuzetsu's mouth and before she knew it, she had opened her eyes again.

She sighed but without regret, she could not help it, blood price or not, it looked so beautiful upon Naruko.

The woman shook her head and carefully wrapped a first arm around her sleeping girlfriend before she nuzzled her head against Naruko's barely covered chest.

"So beautiful."

Then she felt the blonde's arms move and she noticed that the smile upon Naruko's sleeping features had expanded slightly whilst she realized that she had whispered those last words out loud. So very beautiful indeed and it was her world.

"My world." Ryzetsu whispered as she tightened her grip upon Naruko and nuzzled the girl's cheek.

Unknown to her, the same words echoed into Naruko's mind as the sleeping girl instinctively wrapped her arms around Ryzetsu to return the woman's embrace.

* * *

 **For those are wondering Waraji was one half of the pair of bodyguards which belonged to Gato. I kindly decided to improve his skill with the sword greatly and promoted him to the rank of the leader of a small group of skilled swordsmen...only to let him die in a one-sided confrontation. Evil chuckle...I never claimed I liked him.**

 **Mind telling me what you thought about it?**


End file.
